From: james wolstencroft <gonolek@gmail.com>
Date: 2018-12-16 08:34
Subject: Where are the little falcons?
Hello Kenya Birders,
I thought that if I shared a post of mine from the dreaded FB it might provoke some further sightings and hopefully debate; so here it is:
So shall we put the Spotlight on some larger avian insectivores? Let’s look at the smaller falcons here in Tanzania. Birds that need the larger insects to survive. Insects such as locusts, grasshoppers, dragonflies and especially the winged termites and dung beetles. All of whom used to emerge in astronomic numbers, out of healthy land, after the onset of the rains.
Ok, in 35 action-packed birding days, traveling with two separate, sequential groups, each of seven alert companions and journeying through wilderness parks and reserves of Northern Tanzania (between November 4 and December 11) we saw in total the following smaller falcons :
African Hobby 1, Eurasian Hobby 10, Amur Falcon 18, Greater Kestrel 6, Grey Kestrel 7, Lesser Kestrel 13, Common Kestrel 4, African Mountain Kestrel (F.t. rufescens) 3.
There were no sightings of either Sooty Falcon or Red-necked Falcon.
“Something seems to have gone wrong”.
Personally I pray, that our Palearctic falcons are migrating south through less disrupted lands.
Hopefully through the Central African Republic. The CAR is the sixth least populous nation in Africa and the one with the most insect rich humid habitat.
Why? Becaus it remains sufficiently lawless to deter exploitation by all but the most violent “global carpet baggers” whose legacy is to have turned ineffable beauty into inedible dead-end balance sheets!
We can only hope they haven’t succeeded everywhere. Not yet.
Good spotting to all, regardless!
James--