Dear all,

On Friday (28th Dec) and Saturday (29th) I was out atlassing in the southern Rift Valley with my friends Steve Graham and Cedric Wathiru. We managed to cover three pentads between Oltepesi and Mt Suswa on Friday and three along the Magadi Rd south of Olorgesaillie on Saturday. Making a total of 6 pentads (all full protocols)! An Ayres's Hawk-Eagle in some dry woodland in pentad 0145_3620 (along Magadi Rd) was a real surprise as this raptor is generally associated with moister woodland and forest. Its distribution map in Birds of Kenya and Northern TZ (Zimmerman et al) also suggests that you shouldn't expect it in this area. In the same area was a juvenile Great Sparrowhawk feeding on an unidentified dove-sized bird it had just caught. Another interesting sighting was what seemed to be a Swahili Sparrow (Passer [griseus] suahelicus) in pentad 0135_3620, also along Magadi Rd. Its bill seemed too small for Parrot-billed Sparrow (P. [g.] gongonensis), and it appeared uniform-colored on its head and back. See photo attached. In Kenya, Swahili Sparrow should theoretically only occur in the south-west, so this bird seemed out of range. Feel free to give your comments on what you think of this sparrow (is it 'Swahili' for sure?).

Surprisingly, throughout the 2 days, we did not record any pipits, Ostrich, bustards or guineafowl (though we did see a Helmeted Guineafowl's feather). We only recorded one francolin species (Crested). Raptors were extremely scarce at best. Ayres's (1 indiv), African Hawk Eagle (1 pair) and Steppe Eagle (2 indivs) were the only eagles seen. The only other raptors were the Great Sparrowhawk, a Black-shouldered Kite, a Yellow-billed Kite, and a few Eastern Chanting Goshawks and Gabar Goshawks. No vultures, buzzards, Secretarybird, falcons or owls. We also missed several other birds that we thought we would find. Maybe our search was not thorough enough, but I was expecting a fair bit more than we saw.

Apart from the Steppe Eagle, other migrants were several Northern, Pied and Isabelline Wheatears, a Red-backed Shrike (though it had a grey back, making us wonder if it's a Red-backed/Isabelline hybrid), a Spotted Flycatcher, an Upcher's Warbler, two Olivaceous Warblers, Common Rock Thrush (fairly numerous) and White-throated Bee-eaters (numerous, presumably the migrant population from the northern tropics based on time of year?).

P..S. We are now very close to 1000 pentads mapped for Kenya on the Kenya Bird Map!! 993 submitted as I write this. There is just one day left in 2018, can we hit this mark before end of the year? It's very possible! If you are anywhere near an unmapped pentad, please go out and do a two-hour full protocol card and submit it before end of tomorrow (31st)! Let's make it happen!

 
 
Best regards and good birding in the new year,

Sidney Shema

Ornithologist and Wildlife Photographer

Project Manager - Kenya Bird Map

Website and Blog: www..shotsbyshema.com

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<Ayres's Hawk-Eagle - pentad 0145_3620.JPG>

<Swahili Sparrow - pentad 0135_3620.JPG>

<Great Sparrowhawk juvenile with prey (possible African Mourning Dove) - pentad 0145_3620.JPG>