NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK 10th OCTOBER 2018

Dear All,
After an absence of six weeks it was really good to see Nairobi
National Park again. Nigel Hunter having decided that weekends are a
zoo and too much time wasted, decided that weekdays were the only
alternative. Unfortunately this was the on-again off-again public
holiday, and it was on. The place was a combination of zoo and circus.
The girls behind the check-in were doing a sterling job, but even with
three desks open it took 40 minutes before we were through the gate.
The car park seemed awash with people, and yet inside the Park it did
not seem to be that busy. There had been rain in the past couple of
days, but nothing overnight, although up to mid morning the day looked
as gloomy as July not October.

We started off at KWS Mess, and was a waste of time, and we scored
nothing of any note. The Army Barracks have cleared all of the nice
scrub and bush on the other side of the fence, and are presumably
planning to build on it. So the Black-collared Apalis have had to
leave and there is no place that would attract Nightingales anymore.
Continuing on to Ivory Burning Site there was again nothing of note
and certainly no migrants to welcome back, an Augur Buzzard was
calling from somewhere but not one was seen today and a Zanzibar
Greenbul also only heard. We did a little circuit around the Ivory
Arena, and checked the Nagalomon Drift, but nothing at either place,
but there were single Green and Common Sandpipers from the bridge. The
Dam was also quite ordinary, the breeding frenzy with the Sacred Ibis
and friends appeared over, but the number of adult Black-crowned
Night-Herons in the reeds might indicate another brood coming. There
were no Cormorants at all, just seven Darters, also one of only two
sightings of Great Egret today, and a few African Spoonbills. A pair
of adult Fish Eagles watched the comings and goings. There were a lot
of Yellow-billed Kites in the sky, and unusual numbers were seen all
day. In the wader line apart from resident plovers were six
Black-winged Stilts and four Green Sandpipers.

Leaving the Dam we started along the back road to Hyena Dam, but
hadn’t really proceeded when a Palearctic warbler flew across the
road, that looked like a Garden Warbler. When we got to the site, it
was singing as beautifully as if it were March not October, and almost
immediately a few birds were feeding along the road. One of them was a
Red-throated Wryneck, (see image); only my third in NNP, the last
being one on the same road but up near the units Nov 2013-Jan 2014. My
first one many years before that was also in that same area.
Red-throated have now overtaken Eurasian at 3:2! Whilst still admiring
the wryneck, a young Ayre’s Hawk-Eagle came in and soared around the
area.
There was not much more excitement along the road, until just before
the descent down to the river, to the right of the road is an active
nest of Martial Eagles. The largest bird, presumed female is in adult
plumage, but the smaller that was on the nest was very sub-adult
although the head was not white, but grey-brown. This is a new site,
but quite likely a Mokoyeti adult paired up with a younger bird….. but
maybe not. The days only Red-collared Widowbird was here, but in
non-breeding dress, and good numbers of Wattled Starlings were feeding
on Rus fruit. Right at the back near the turn to Hyena Dam was the
strange sight of a Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater singing from a scrubby
bush (see image).

Hyena Dam still has no cover and has lost its great attraction to
birds, there were 11 White-faced Whistling duck, the season’s first
Booted Eagle was soaring around (see image), waders consisted of 8
Black-winged Stilt, a pair of Long-toed Plover, ten Wood Sandpipers,
and the usual resident plovers, and a few White-rumped Swift were
coming to drink.
As there had been recent rain we opted not to take the run-off, but
follow the Mokoyeti. At the swampy ox-bow an African Water Rail was
still holding territory, and amongst the seed-eating species were many
non-breeding White-winged and four Jackson’s Widowbirds, scattered
Quail-Finch and Orang-breasted Waxbills, and many parties of Parasitic
Weaver. With a group of Buffalo were two first-year Yellow Wagtails,
but clearly representing different races (see images).

Karen Primary School Dam was on its last legs, and would doubtfully
last another week; all it attracted was a Red-billed Teal, apart from
the usual Common Moorhens and Black Crakes. Eland Hollow held plenty
of water, and the strangest sight here, was a lone White-faced
Whistling Duck with no less than 24 nearly half-grown ducklings, (see
image). Quite a number of Barn Swallows were feeding over the area,
there were two Wood Sandpiper and fifteen Orange-breasted Waxbills.
Massive numbers of Quail-finch have invaded the area, and were really
quite extravert, (see image); by the end of the day we felt we had
seen between 250-300 individuals. The only other birds of note here
were a pair of very attractive Pangani, and the first of two
Rosy-breasted Longclaws.

There were a good number of birds on the short cut to East Gate Road,
a few Red-capped, but an incursion of Fischer’s Sparrowlarks, lots of
non-breeding White-winged Widowbirds and in with them feeding on dry
stubble were a few birds that puzzled us at first. Had they had been
in damp vegetation they would have been identified immediately but on
the parched drying vegetation they had us wondering. But the
diagnostic broad pale eyebrow, heavy dark streaking on the underparts
and equally so on the flanks marked them as non-breeding
Yellow-crowned Bishops (see image).

Under the railway-line and through the grassland we had many Barn
Swallows with about thirty Banded Martins with them, the vulture
drinking pools still contained enough water to attract the Vultures
and of 61 present fifteen were Ruppell’s, (see image), and the rest
White-backed. Athi Dam was not living up to hopes with six
Yellow-billed and two Marabou Storks, a couple of African Spoonbills,
the days only Grey Crowned Crane, three roosting Black-crowned
Night-Herons, African Fish-Eagle, two Black-winged Stilt, six
Kittlitz’s Plover, single Marsh Sandpiper and Common Greenshank, two
Wood Sandpiper, three Common Sandpiper and six Little Stint. Either
end of the Causeway were a pair of Banded Parisomas. Rhino Circuit was
also so quiet, single Green and Common Sandpipers and a Greenshank, a
Grey-headed Kingfisher, a pair of Abyssinian Scimitarbill, and further
down the road we added Red-throated Tit, Speckle-fronted and Lesser
Masked Weavers. This was one of the three places we heard high flying
Eurasian Bee-eaters whilst failing to set an eye on them.

At the ford below Baboon Cliffs, a male Eurasian Golden Oriole did a
good job of concealment amongst the figs, there was nothing to be
found on the quarry road near Maasai Gate, nor at Kingfisher Picnic
Site apart from the days only Tawny Eagle, and a Saddle-billed Stork
was back at the nearby wetland.

Heading through the forest, there was a singing Blackcap, and on the
Langata Dam the days only Little Grebe and a singing Garden Warbler.
Our final stop was at the vlei near Langata Gate. There were a number
of Palm Swifts, in fact that had been the commonest swift species all
day, a White-starred Robin was calling softly. Underneath a distant
bush was a pair of Great Boubous which was now bird of the day. See
discussion under the key to the montage as to why these are so
interesting.

We were through the gate at 5.00pm and the final bird for the day was
an adult martial eagle perched on a tree opposite Gem’s School, but
still in the Park! It had been an often slow day, but with a few nice
surprises, and we left the Park having recorded 170 species. Mammals
were widespread, Zebra are coming back but only four Wildebeest as
yet, but Eland were widespread but no large concentrations. Lions were
encountered three times, and there were several reports of Leopards
seen today.

Best to all
Brian


KEY TO MONTAGE

1	GREAT BOUBOU Laniarius major major
Top three images first bird, bottom image its mate.
All around Nairobi and up to and north of Mt Kenya the black-and-white
Boubou is the form ambiguus (see 1b). Compared to major, the bird is
slightly smaller, not so stocky, can show no white on wing if hidden,
but the white patch is confined to shoulders when visible. There has
never been an incidence of white on the flight feathers. The
underparts are mainly white, usually but not always lacking the
pinkish hue of major.

On 25th February 2018 I was with Nigel Hunter at exactly the same
place, and spotted what I said was a Great Boubou, feeding under a
hedge at quite a distance. Nevertheless although 100 yards away, the
white slash down the wing was very conspicuous and the underside was a
warmer hue than local birds. I posted….”On the left corner of the
scrub a few birds were dropping to the ground to feed. One bird stood
out, it was a Tropical Boubou, but not like the local Tropical Boubous
of the race ambiguus, this one had a white band along the primaries
(should have read secondaries), and the underparts were a fairly
strong pinkish-orange rather than pure white. It looked for all the
world like a Tropical Boubou of the race major, like those in the
bottom of the Rift occurring at Naivasha then northwards and
westwards. Our ambiguus is smaller with usually all white underparts
but very rarely a rosy hint before breeding, then no white on the
primaries just a small and often concealed white bar on the shoulders.
We went over to where it had disappeared into cover and waited to get
some photographs. After a while we played recordings to try and entice
it out, but nothing ever seen of it again! On returning back to the
road a pair of typical ambiguus were feeding in the scrub. “

The record looked lost, and with no images and views at long distance,
but today a bird fed in exactly the same place under the bush and
moved out into the open to feed on the grass. Another bird joined it
that was even better marked than the first and after bouncing around
in the open; both disappeared into the depths of some dense scrub.

Whilst the birds were in the open I tried to get some images, which at
that distance were not great but clearly showed how different they
were from our local birds.  The images show the pinkish hue on the
lower belly, but far more importantly, they show the white not just on
the shoulder but as a line across the centre of the shoulder, down to
the wing coverts, and extensively edging two different secondaries
extending almost down the entire length of them (although blocked by
vegetation in one image).

Comparing this with the local ambiguus with a distribution restricted
to highlands east of the Rift Valley, and very common around Nairobi,
that bird shows entirely black wing coverts and primaries, and the
white restricted to the shoulder. Some birds can show a tinge of
pinkish when breeding. The call of ambiguus is much less impressive
than the voice of major. The distribution of major is as close as
Naivasha, then northwards up the Rift and westwards all the way across
Africa to the Atlantic forests. So the distribution of these birds is
allopatric.

The pied Boubous have always intrigued me, with constants in plumage
assigned to different races, and a vast repertoire of different calls.
It appeared that there were several species that had always been
considered one species. There was a story to be told, and subsequent
papers showed that the coastal black-winged sublacteus was a good
species, as was Ethiopian, and Mozambique, but Great Boubou (major)
was considered the same as Great Boubou (ambiguus), and they still
are, there has never been an instance of sympatry and now we have one.
A single pair of like individuals resembling major in all appearances,
and living amongst like individuals of ambiguus, and yet maintaining
themselves, with no sign of any ambiguus genes getting into them, or
vice versa. If it were one it could be put down to vagrancy, but when
it is a pair and they are still in the same place as four months
previously then it’s a major (no pun intended) discovery and could
show that these two also require separation.

Having read this far, and living Nairobi eastwards, with this
knowledge that major has a white slash the length of the wings, maybe
with careful observation other pairs of major are also existing among
all the ambiguus. I would certainly like to know of any such
sightings.


       1b	       GREAT BOUBOU Laniarius major ambiguus
Typical individual as found in NNP though photographed in garden six
kilometres away. There is white on           the shoulder, a small
patch that is often concealed as in this case.

2	BLUE-HEADED TREE AGAMA
Common in NNP both in trees and low rocks.

3	AFRICAN QUAIL-FINCH
A major incursion into the Park today, providing excellent views.

4	BOOTED EAGLE
One pale bird flying around, seen from Hyena Dam.

5	RUPPELL’S GRIFFON VULTURE
Fifteen at the Vulture Drinking Pools, a good number with forty-six
White-backed.

6	YELLOW-CROWNED BISHOP
Several birds feeding out in very dry habitat.

7	WHITE-FACED WHISTLING DUCK
The amazing bird at Eland Hollow Dam with 24 ducklings.
A check of the “The Birds of Africa” Vol 1…… eggs laid 4-13, brood
sizes 2-13 average of 6. No mention anywhere of fostering other
ducklings, this bird deserves entry into the records book, it has set
a record not to be beaten for a long while. Do I hear a “25?”

8	RED-THROATED WRYNECK
Near Ivory Burning Site, first in NNP for over four years.

9	SGR ENGINE
The SGR now completely crosses the Park from near East Gate to near
Maasai Gate. There is still much labour working on the railroad.

10	YELLOW WAGTAIL 1
First year bird, very distinctive head marking with pale supercilium
only extending from the eye, but nothing beyond it. Dark lores and
cheeks suggests female Grey-headed, but quite unlike the commoner
lutea and flava first years.

11	YELLOW WAGTAIL 2
Typical first-year/female type with long sweeping pale supercilium and
pale lores, cheek no darker than back, suggests a lutea, but this is a
learning curve again!

12	CINNAMON-CHESTED BEE-EATER
The bird that decided to try savannah habitat for a change.