Hi all,

It's been a great time to be out birding.

Over the past two days around my house in Thika I've recorded 85 species.

One of the best was a Eurasian Scops Owl that was disturbed from its daytime roost by my son.  I haven't been able to relocate it.

There's been lots of other migrants as mentioned by others.  These include willow warblers (many), olivaceous warbler, house martins, spotted flycatcher, Abdim's stork, and a tree pipit. 

We still have some hundred or so barn swallows, but we had several hundreds, probably 1000+ two weeks ago prior to the recent rains.

I've also recorded a few new species that I've never recorded here before.  Apart from the previously mentioned scops owl, I've recorded grey-rumped swallow that I saw in a group of three on the group in the pineapple field.  Identified by their muddy brown head that I was clearly able to see as they weren't flying.  They've probably been around previously, but just difficult for me to identify if they are flying.

I've also recorded Horus Swift, which I think I've got the id correct.  I've been seeing many, many swifts. Some are little swifts, but these ones I believe are Horus and not White-rumped as the tail was less deeply forked.

Today I saw and heard a pair of Black-collared Apalis, which was new for me in this pentad. 

This morning I had a single Trumpeter Hornbill, which probably isn't that unusual, only that previously I've only had Silvery cheeked in our compound.

I also had what I believe is a Eurasian Cuckoo.  I have attached a photo and maybe someone can confirm or correct me if its possible to delineate from my photo?

I also had a burst of 17 raptors fly over mid-morning today.  They were quite high up, but at least 7 of them appeared to be Yellow-billed Kites, unusual in that they seemed to be flying in a group.  Tail seemed too forked for Black Kites.  There were at least 2 Wahlberg's and the rest I couldn't ID as they were so many and were too far away.  I also had an Ayre's Hawk Eagle lower down.  Earlier in the day I had an immature Eurasian Hobby.

There's also a lot of trees in fruit at the moment that are attracting Green Pigeons, Violet-backed Starlings, Zanzibar Greenbuls, bulbuls, mousebirds, and Olive Thrush.

I also had a Lesser Swamp Warbler in the reeds yesterday and an Eastern Honeybird today.  I think on the mapping app this one is called Green-backed Honeybird.

I've also had some Black Saw-wings around, which I don't seem to see year-round here.

Last week I was at the coast, 20km north of Malindi.  I wasn't in a good birding spot but managed to see some migrants.  I single Red-backed Shrike and a number of Eurasian Golden Orioles.

Cheers, Darcy

Darcy Ogada

Assistant Director of Africa Programs
+254-722-339366
P.O. Box 1629-00606

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Nairobi

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Kenya