NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK 18th October 2018

Having wasted so much time in recent months, queuing up to get access
into the Park we decided that mid-week was the only way to avoid this
annoyance.
Nigel Hunter and myself met up with Fleur Ng’Weno at just after
6.30am, there was no queue to get processed and we were through
immediately.
There had been a little rain recently, in the past four days we had
just managed an inch but the Park was accessible everywhere. As the
army had cleared their land taking away the attraction at KWS Mess, we
went straight for Ivory Burning Site. It was very quiet, but a gloomy
though quite warm morning. An adult Martial Eagle fed on a Suni along
the road, A couple Zanzibar Greenbuls were singing attractively and
Fleur was immediately transported to the coast! A single (returning)
Lesser Striped Swallow was back after the species annual absence.
There was nothing to be seen on the Ivory Burning Arena, nor the
Nagalomon Drift, but at the bridge was probably the largest Nile
Monitor I have seen in the Park (see image).
There was a Garden Warbler singing along the causeway, and a pair each
of Yellow-billed Storks and African Spoonbills perched in an acacia.
The dam produced little, four African Darters, a Great Egret, ten
Black-crowned Night-Herons, a few more immature Spoonbills, a pair of
adult Fish Eagles, six Black-winged Stilts, a Common Greenshank, and
five Green Sandpipers.
We departed for Hyena Dam via the back road. It was fairly quiet in
the scrub, an immature Bateleur flew over, the young adult Martial
Eagle was at the new nest, a Lanner Falcon was flying around the
units, and what was probably the same individual was seen later at
Hyena Dam, we could hear a Crowned Crane but strangely never saw it.
Two Long-toed Plovers were on the flooded patch, (see image) and we
found another four on Hyena Dam so they are at last returning, there
was also a single Green Sandpiper here. A male African Hoopoe was
calling noisily from the figs, and parties of Wattled Starlings were
plentiful and making some impressive noises! Hyena Dam was not looking
too healthy there were ten each of Wood Sandpipers and Black-winged
Stilts, a few each of Green and Common Sandpipers and a Little Stint.

We followed the road along the Mokoyeti, the African Water Rail was in
its place, and in the grassland we found the seasons first Whinchat
with an adult male later at Eland Hollow, non-breeding Jackson’s
Widowbirds (see image), a remarkable flock of over two-hundred
Parasitic Weavers making fine aerial manoeuvres and coming in to feed
by the road (see image), also a dozen Orange-breasted Waxbills were
feeding on seeds. From the Mokoyeti Bridge there were three Hamerkops
fishing, and one startled flushing a dozen more Orange-breasted
Waxbills that had been drinking and we hadn’t noticed them. Returning
back towards Nagalomon Dam the days only Black-winged Kite was seen
and a rather well north Abyssinian Scimitarbill.

Heading towards Kingfisher Picnic Site there was the season’s first
Common Buzzard hovering by the roadside, but at the site we had to
keep to the rest-room side as a Lion was occupying the northern part,
some nice birds included the season’s first Spotted Flycatcher,
cavorting Brown Parisomas, and noisy Red-throated Tits. Further along
the road were the day’s only Tawny Eagle, and the first two Northern
Wheatears for the season. The inside quarry road near Maasai Gate
failed to produce although the first Banded Parisoma for the day was
near here and a half-dozen Eurasian Bee-eaters flew north! A nice
surprise was that the Pallid Honeyguide was back in his fig-tree
territory on the Mokoyeti causeway below Baboon Cliffs, and in full
voice, and a Striated Heron was also here.

The acacia patch above Hippo Pools was empty, and not much was
happening along Rhino Circuit though the Grey-headed Kingfisher was at
his normal place and there were a few Lesser Masked Weavers. There was
another Northern Wheatear along the pipeline. Athi Dam did not look
very active only two Marabous were on the shore with five
Yellow-billed Storks and a couple of African Spoonbills. Just one
Black-crowned Night-Heron could be found at the roost, an adult Fish
Eagle was in the usual place and an adult Martial Eagle flew over,
there was one Crowned Crane as last week and a Glossy Ibis, four
Black-winged Stilts, three Kittlitz’s Plovers, ten Little Stint, a
lone Ruff, three Marsh, a dozen Wood, four Common and two Green
Sandpipers, two Common Greenshank completed the shoreline feeders. In
the bushes was a very scaly-backed immature African Cuckoos, (see
image), and the usual Banded Parisomas, but whilst there were many
Spotted Thick-knees, we found a Water Thick-knee as well (see image),
which is only my fourth encounter in NNP, and I don’t know of other
records. Another locally uncommon bird was a Red-knobbed Coot (see
image).

As it was now after 3.00pm it was late for the vultures to be drinking
at their pools and only six were remaining of which three were
Ruppell’s. Crossing the grasslands towards the East Gate Road we had a
lovely pair of Secretarybirds, the season’s first Pallid Harrier which
was a sub-adult male, single Northern and the first Isabelline
Wheatear, as well as a couple of Rosy-breasted Longclaws and a curious
Stout Cisticola (see image). Karen Primary School Dam was containing
very little water but a Little Grebe was hanging on as well as five
Red-billed Teal. On the plains towards Eland Hollow Dam were parties
of frustrating Athi Short-toed Larks and numerous Quail-Finch, whilst
Eland Hollow hosted the lone White-faced Whistling-Duck with the 24
chicks and a Yellow-billed Egret. Hyena Dam had a dozen Banded Martins
as we passed by, but we doubtfully saw more than a dozen Barn Swallows
all day!

We exited Main Gate shortly after 5.00pm. So never had occasion to
visit any of the forested area, nevertheless we ended the day with a
healthy 183 species with the last bird for the day being Black-backed
Puffback.

Mammals were widespread, Zebra have particularly made a noticeable
return, there is a lot to be said for a mid-week visit!

Best to all
Brian


KEY TO MONTAGE

1	AFRICAN CUCKOO
Immature
We met up with this Cuckoo in the acacia mellifera scrub in the far SE
of Athi Dam. First impressions were a largish slender, long-winged and
long-tailed cuckoo, and the conclusion was an immature Eurasian but
quite unlike any immature Eurasian I had seen before in being such
charcoal-coloured above and fine and plentiful white scales over all
upperparts. This is where taking images of birds in the field comes
into its own. Now with something tangible to tackle and not relying on
memory, features come to light that where not available from studying
the bird in the field. Also the clarity and magnification cannot be
matched by any pair of binoculars. October is the time for Eurasian to
be passing through, and whilst in Zimmermann & Turner, African Cuckoos
are present for a few months in various parts of Kenya, however they
are at different times of year per region, and whilst most of the year
is included, strangely October is a month when they are not listed
from any corner of the country. We departed thinking this an unusually
coloured Eurasian Cuckoo.
An examination of the two images shows a number of interesting features.
a] From the underside, the barring is extremely fine, only 1/5th of
the entire visible part of the feather, i.e. 4/5th of the intervening
area is white. In a Eurasian Cuckoo the dark band accounts for 1/3rd
and 2/3rd intervening white.

b] As the throat is pale, this suggests that the immature plumage is
gradually being lost, and plain throats are an adult feature whilst
immatures of both species have barred throats.

c] In the field the bill appeared darkish tipped but with a yellowish
base. In fully adult birds African shows extensive yellow base and
small dark tip, whilst Eurasian has a dark bill with a small yellow
base. This is how it appeared to us, but the image clearly show that
the adult African pattern is starting to show through and the bill is
extensively yellow based with a small dark tip.

d] The underside of the tail is completely banded throughout the
width, this is a unique character to African, whilst in Eurasian the
bars are reduced to spots, and the underside of the central tail
feathers are unmarked dark clearly separating the tail into two sides.
This is probably the most conclusive feature on separating the two
species should identification be questioned, and covers all flying
stages.

e] On the image showing the upperside, there is another unique feature
to identifying immature African and Eurasian Cuckoos, African have
barred rumps and Eurasian plain rumps and this bird clearly shows a
barred rump.

I found this exposure to this Immature African Cuckoo very
enlightening, and have learnt much from it and more so studying the
images.


2	LONG-TOED PLOVER
So nice to see that we have six birds again in the Hyena Dam area, I
wonder where they have been in the past months of absence.

3	NILE MONITOR
This impressive monster was resting on a boulder in the Mokoyeti River
at Nagalomon.

4	PARASITIC WEAVER
Finding a flock of well over 200 in grasslands along the Mokoyeti on
the Hyena Dam run-off was a surprise; this was just a token image of
one of them. There is absolutely no-where in East Africa as good for
this species as NNP.

5	NORTHERN WHEATEAR
Four birds seen today, this must be the latest first date ever. Many
other species also seem very tardy in putting in an appearance this
year.

6	CROAKING CISTICOLA
This individual was irresistibly cooperative.

7	WHINCHAT
Two birds seen today, should be many more arriving soon.

8	SG RAILWAY PILLAR
Whether or not you agree with the presence of the railway bisecting
the Park, I personally now do not find it so insidious, unsightly or
environmentally damaging as I envisioned when the project first went
under way. It has been an amazing feat to finish the construction from
start to finish in just one year. Now the hideous blue fences have
been removed and all that remains is the tall pillars with the line on
top. There is a track along the side which was the service road, there
is no rubbish remaining, the site is spotless where the heavy
transport thundered down only a couple of months ago. I am impressed
that the change to the environment was confined to such a narrow band.
There were fears that the mammals would not go under the line, but to
the contrary the mammals have something that actually wasn’t even
thought about before, that they never had before, and that is 100%
shade to rest under, and they obviously are liking this as can be seen
by the image.

9	WATER THICK-KNEE
The discovery of one sheltering under a bush at Athi Dam raised hope
for a migrant Eurasian Stone-Curlew, but sadly this was dashed by the
absence of the black band below the white wing band. In Eurasian the
white band is bordered by a blackish band both above and below, and
not the case in this individual. However this was the fourth
individual occurrence I had seen in NNP, so it remains a very rare
visitor. It is remarkably rare in all of the central highlands, when I
think about it the closest I have seen them to the west is the Mara
River, to the east the Galana, the north is the Athi River and the
south is Amboseli. They are absent from places that would appear
suitable such as Lakes Magadi, Naivasha, Elementeita and Nakuru, I
wonder why?

10	JACKSON’S WIDOWBIRD
	Non-breeding Male, large, short-tailed and very heavily streaked.

11	RED-KNOBBED COOT
There probably isn’t much more than an average of one visitation per year.