NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK 19th FEBRUARY 2019

Dear All,
Today Nigel Hunter and myself departed for NNP leaving the house at a
little after 6.30am, and by completely avoiding Magadi Road by using
Langata South Road we arrived at the Main Gate just fifteen minutes
later with no traffic hold ups anywhere. We were the only people
processing the entrance for the Park and as it was still early had a
walk around the parking area. Birds not encountered again once through
the gate were three Green Pigeons, a Wahlberg’s Honeybird (see image),
Bronze and Amethyst Sunbirds, and although we had two inside there
were over a dozen Willow Warblers.

It was a cloudless sky and very bright with no hazy conditions we had
seen of late, there was no sign of recent rain that there had been
over the weekend, the levels in the dams were dropping, Olmanyi has
all but gone, there are no Vulture Drinking Pools currently, the
Mbagathi has completely dried from half-way along the Rhino Circuit
and is only a trickle upstream, but Karen PS Dam has mysteriously gone
up!

Just inside the Gate there was a pair of displaying Little
Sparrowhawks, but the woodland and scrub was incredibly quiet, and
this was the case throughout the Park, and the plains even more devoid
of signs of birdlife. Bring on the rains! First stop was Ivory Burning
Site, Crested Francolin were calling, not heard from here for some
time, the only migrant was a singing Garden Warbler and merely a
snatch, the residents were not any more impressive and so we left for
Nagalomon Dam. There was a scolding Eurasian Reed Warbler on the
Causeway but it was otherwise silent. Not one Palearctic Wader greeted
us when we looked at the dam. There was a nice Squacco Heron in
breeding plumage, the seven Darters present (all adults) were giving a
group display on the island, seven African Spoonbills included a bird
waving a branch, one adult Fish Eagle was on a small tree and a
Zanzibar Greenbul sung nearby.

After a disappointing start we took the back road to Hyena Dam, I
think it was the dullest piece of road that it has ever been, the
first of three Turkestan Shrikes was about it, (see image). There was
one surprise and that was a White-bellied Go-Away Bird, the farthest
north I have seen one in NNP, and in fact it couldn’t have gone
further north and still have been in the Park. Just before arriving at
Hyena Dam we could see a group of largish birds with one larger
amongst them, Nigel said that it was early in the day for a Marabou
here and I said that I thought there was something not right with the
stance which more suggested a Goliath Heron, but it was more tongue in
cheek. As we arrived at the dam and saw the group through binoculars
there was no doubt that this was in fact a Goliath Heron, it was the
first Goliath Heron in NNP since 1996!!! It was an immature, the last
was an adult I found also at Hyena Dam which stayed two weeks, but I
was young then! (See images). Other birds here were a Yellow-billed
Egret with another in the run-off, a couple of African Spoonbills,
another nice surprise in the form of an attractive female Knob-billed
Duck (see image), the other Fish Eagle forming the pair that ranges
back and forth from Nagalomon to Hyena Dams, the first of three Augur
Buzzards, five Long-toed Plovers with one looking like it was on a
nest, ten Black-winged Stilts, five Common Snipe (see image), a Common
Greenshank, fifteen Wood and a Common Sandpiper and the days only
Yellow Wagtail, a female flava, (see image).
We drove along the Mokoyeti, somewhere I could hear the Great Spotted
Eagle calling but could not find it, several minutes later it appeared
rapidly chasing another Aquila which was not identified, whilst at the
rear a Yellow-billed Kite was dive-bombing the GSE. The days only
Isabelline Shrike was also along here.
We circled around over the bridge and headed for Olmanyi Dam, on the
way were the first three of just five Black-winged Kites today, and
three Banded Martin but three in the evening at Hyena Dam could have
been the same birds. The water level had dropped drastically although
the mud looked much more attractive for waders than it obviously was
to them. There were six Common Snipe, a Common Sandpiper and the days
first Green Sandpiper which was in breeding plumage. We only had one
other bird today this being at Athi Dam, testifying to the early major
withdrawal of this species from Kenya already. The only other sighting
here was an adult Gabar Goshawk.

Below Eland Hollow was the same Common Buzzard seen on out last visit
twelve days ago, the male Saddle-billed Stork greeted us at Kingfisher
Swamp (see image), and a few out of plumaged White-winged Widowbirds
were in the sedges. Kingfisher Picnic Site was also fairly quiet, but
a family of Red-throated Tits were vocal as they fed on the branches
(see image). Nearby we picked up the first of two Isabelline
Wheatears, and of three Northern Wheatears. Ololo was hot and quiet,
it had the only Nightingale encountered today and surely these cannot
have vacated as yet, another Eurasian Reed Warbler scolded from cover,
the Secretarybird sat tight on its nest and was the only individual
today and a pair of Short-tailed Larks were at the murrum pits.

Below Baboon Cliffs the Pallid Honeyguide was not to be heard after
being so reliable the past many months, the woodland above Hippo Pools
gave us a Long-billed Pipit, four Speckle-fronted Weavers as well as
the reliable Banded Parisomas. Rhino Circuit was unpleasantly warm and
quiet, although a group of eight Violet Wood-Hoopoes might be the
largest party seen as a single group, the days only Spotted Flycatcher
was also here.

Along the road to the Pipeline, the currently flooded creek has had a
drop in water level and was attracting a few birds and had the only
two Great Egrets and another three Yellow-billed Egrets. An attractive
Pied Kingfisher was also trying its luck here (see image). On the
Pipeline we had one each of Isabelline, Northern and Pied Wheatears
but Athi Dam was still to prove interesting although not as varied as
the previous visit and the Water Dikkops were not to be found. We did
have four roosting Black-crowned Night Herons, up to a hundred White
Storks which took off before we had time to do a more accurate count,
at least 700 Marabous were around the shore, and twelve each of
Yellow-billed Storks and African Spoonbills. Eleven White-faced
Whistling-Ducks were the only waterfowl apart from the all too
numerous Egyptian Geese. A pair of Fish Eagles appear to consider this
home, and spent some time displaying and calling, whilst waders
included four Black-winged Stilts, a Spotted Thick-knee, two Common
Ringed and fifteen Kittlitz’s Plovers, just six Little Stints and
three Ruff, three Common Greenshank, a Marsh, three Common, fifteen
Wood and the days second only Green Sandpiper. The only passerine of
any interest in the Acacia mellifera were the reliable Banded
Parisomas, and a very noisy Olivaceous Warbler sang exuberantly from
the causeway.

On the return we had a quiet time in the grasslands apart from a noisy
calling Shelley’s Francolin (see image), the only two Grey Crowned
Cranes all day were at the dam at the Empakasi Junction (No. 9) where
we came across the prowling lioness (see image), the days only Little
Grebes was a pair at Karen PS Dam whilst Eland Hollow failed to
produce although once again it appears to be the only area where
Quailfinch are common.

A check of Hyena Dam showed the Goliath Heron looking comfortable, and
a new arrival at Nagalomon Dam was a Spur-winged Goose (see image).
The trip from there around to Langata Gate was uneventful, apart from
a Spur-winged Plover being the first ever to get into the Langata
section of the Park. All records are restricted to Athi, Hyena and
Nagalomon Dams where they are common and constantly seem to be
reproducing! We exited at 5.15pm.

Although hot it was still an interesting day even if most locations
seemed well below par and migrants in extraordinarily low numbers. We
found that we had recorded 186 species which is quite a bit more than
we thought we were meeting up with.

Best to all
Brian





KEY TO MONTAGE

1	GREY HERON MAIN GATE
This bird was perched on a roof of an office at Main Gate, not often a
building perching bird!

2	WAHLBERG’S HONEYBIRD MAIN GATE
One having a good preen before looking for food.

3	WHINCHAT NAGALOMON DAM
The first one of six today, presumably a young male getting first
breeding plumage.

4	TURKESTAN SHRIKE HYENA DAM
One of only three today, showed much reddish on flight feathers but
not as deep on the tail.

5	COMMON SNIPE HYENA DAM
One of eleven today.

6	GOLIATH HERON HYENA DAM
By far the best bird of the day. This is an immature bird and the
first record of the species in NNP since 1996! It’s a new species for
this millennium. Still in same place in afternoon.

7	PLAIN MARTIN AND BARN SWALLOW HYENA DAM
There was a good spread of Barn Swallows over the Park. Most birds are
now already in their full breeding colours but the Plain Martin is as
good as it is ever going to get!

8	KNOB-BILLED DUCK HYENA DAM
This species is only seen in the Park a very few times each year, this
bird appears to be an adult female.

9	IMPALA AND FRIENDS HYENA DAM
This is just to show you how indifferent birds are to herbivores and
even migrants are fearless. Under its nose is a female flava Yellow
Wagtail, whilst through its hind legs is a Common Snipe with a second
bird a little higher to the right of the animal.

10	SADDLE-BILLED STORK KINGFISHER SWAMP
The usual Male that ranges widely throughout the northern parts of the
Park is still waiting for the female to return. She seems to disappear
each dry season whilst he holds the fort.

11	RED-THROATED TIT KINGFISHER PICNIC SITE
There was a very busy family feeding from the main branches, searching
the cracks.

12	PIED KINGFISHER NR PIPELINE
As it was sitting unconcernedly at eye-level it was difficult to resist a photo.

13	FISCHER’S SPARROWLARK ATHI DAM
Birds were finding it very hot this afternoon. Rather than be on the
ground where no air was moving this male appeared to prefer to be in
the sun but in a fairly good breeze.

14	LIONESS EMPAKASI JUNCTION (NO.9)
She was on the road trying to sneak up on a large mixed herd on the
other side of the road, but if she tried to cross the road she would
be spotted so she sat tight. We sat it out a bit but this was going to
be a potentially long exercise so we drove past her and left her
planning her next move.

15	SHELLEY’S FRANCOLIN NR THE BEACON
This male was calling in very little cover near the hottest time of the day.

16	SPUR-WINGED GOOSE NAGALOMON DAM
Maybe slightly more frequent than Knob-bill, this was a nice find in
the evening as there are still only a few records a year.