I went on a birding trip with Fleur and joined Nature Kenya team at the Tana Delta. We left in the morning from malindi on 9th April and reached grasen in the afternoon, a short birdwalk yielded lots of Barn, Lesser-striped and Wire-tailed swallows perching on power lines, some Little and Palm swifts in flight. The fig trees along the river bank were fruiting and attracted loads of African green pigeons, Brown-breasted barbets and small migrant warblers.
On 10th April we left early for a full day on the boat. We boarded the boat by 8am and as we reached the main channel, we had seen at least a dozen Cuckoos(probably common), Trumpeter hornbills and a Little sparrowhawk. On the main channel we saw lots of the common water birds like Striated, Grey, Goliath and Black-headed herons, Open-bill and Yellow-billed storks, Intermediate, Great white, Cattle and Little egrets, African spoonbills, African fish eagles, African golden, Grosbeak and Golden Palm weavers, and quite a few Pratincoles in flight(both Collared and Madagascar). Towards mbililo we started seeing a few migrants like Ruff, Common ringed plovers, Common and Wood sandpipers, and a few Pacific golden plovers in between(photo attached).Highlight of mbililo was seeing 80 spur-winged geese with a flock of 150 openbill storks. The 40 African skimmers were roosting with gull-billed and white-winged black terns. Spur-winged plovers were abundant. Eurasian hobby, Eurasian marsh harrier, Marabou and Saddle-billed storks were seen. About 55 white-backed vultures flew of after feeding on a cow carcass(photo attached). Then we headed back for lunch at Ozi and saw Little bittern and Malindi pipit. Towards kipini we were able to see, Mangrove, Grey-headed, Pied and Malachite kingfishers, Carmine, Little and Blue-cheeked bee-eaters. Southern banded snake eagle and African darters were seen perched on the tall mangroves, along with an African fish eagle feeding on a catfish(photo attached).
On the 11th we started early and visited lake witu. Highlights were numerous Spoonbills, Black herons, Great white egrets, Knob-billed ducks, African jacana and White-faced whistling ducks, Collared and Madagascar pratincoles(photo attached). 5 greater painted snipes and 2 pink-backed pelicans appeared later.
At Lake Mnuji we saw lots of Allen's gallinules, Common moorhen, Purple swamphens, Black crakes, Yellow and Pied wagtails, White-faced whistling ducks, Eurasian hobbies and Amur falcons. After lunch we went to Lake Moa, where we witnessed thousands of pratincoles(photo attached) and a few hundred Amur falcons mixed with some Eurasian hobbies. Spotted redshank and lesser grey shrike were lifers there.
On the 12th we took a short boat ride to Ozi and visited the forest. Highlights there were Green woodhoopoes, African wood owl, Sprosser, bohm's spinetail, Jacobin and Common cuckoo. Eastern nicator, Scaly babbler, Bearded scrub robin, Yellowbill and Southern banded snake eagle were heard. While taking the main road back to garsen, we saw African grey and Von der deckens hornbills, Rüppells, Greater blue-eared, Superb, Black-bellied and Golden-breasted starlings, Red billed and White headed buffalo weavers, Purple-banded, Mouse-coloured, Amethyst and Collared sunbirds.
The 13th was our last day, we visited Tana delta resort and saw Collared palm thrush, Mombasa woodpecker, Lesser honeyguide, Common scimitarbill, Mourning, Emerald spotted and Red-eyed doves. There after we visited a forest patch which is the most southern point to find the Tana River red colobus(photo attached). There I was able to see another wood owl, tambourine dove and African harrier hawk. While heading back to Minjila we saw a pond with lots of reed and a single great cormorant, a dozen pink-backed pelicans and many black-headed and grey herons.
