NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK 7th JUNE 2019

Dear All.
On 7th June, Nigel Hunter and myself arrived at the Main Entrance to
NNP at 6.35am, it was a Friday and so there were no long queues to
check-in, in fact no queues at all just two check in desks and only us
to attend to. We were in in minutes.
In the past few days there had been some good rain and we were a
little wary, but by being careful we did not get stuck anywhere.

It was a grey and gloomy start, the drive in was amazingly quiet were
it not for the booming on an adult Verreaux’s Eagle Owl and the
screams of it’s offspring, an African Goshawk also added it’s voice to
the comparatively avian silence. We slowly proceeded to Ivory Burning
Site, also very quiet, the lower plains were grey and gloomy, but
beyond this the sun was shining on Lukenya making it stand out, as did
the Cement Factory to the right, and what was that further away to the
right of the Cement Factory, Kilimanjaro!
Nothing much was stirring in the cold grey post dawn, so we went off
to Nagalomon Dam. Here we found four immature Yellow-billed Storks, a
few African Spoonbills but none on nests, one Black-crowned
Night-Heron flew over surprisingly high, along the edge was a Little
Egret, some ten Darters were on the island with their noisy young,
there were many Long-tailed Cormorants but only one incubating, Sacred
Ibis crowned their new tree further along the edge of the Dam, in a
distant tree was a noisy adult Fish Eagle, the adult African Jacana
still held on, and a Zanzibar Greenbul called from the scrub.

We attempted the back route to Hyena Dam, the road was in good state
until the valley below the units, and we thought it too risky to enter
Hyena Dam from the back, and retraced back to Ivory Burning Site
having found the first African Pygmy Kingfisher in a while, also the
first of three Augur Buzzards amongst the usual.
Taking the main road to Hyena Dam there was a couple of Parasitic
Weavers in the grasslands, but the dam was open and bleak. The
Long-toed Plovers were not to be seen, but it also looks as if another
fairly long-term temporary resident had also left, being the young
Goliath Heron. There was a compact group of ten Yellow-billed Egrets,
and a tight bunch of four Red-knobbed Coots (see images) at the back
of the dam was a pair and a single Crowned Crane, The Mokoyeti ox-bow
only produced a Great Egret, on the Mokoyeti Bridge was the most
impressive display of Gloriosa lilies I have ever seen (see image),
whilst in the grass on the road back to Nagalomon on the west side of
the Mokoyeti was the seasons first Cardinal Quelea in full breeding
colours and a Namaqua Dove was the first in a while.

At the junction towards Kingfisher there was an immature Lanner
uncharacteristically sitting on top of some dead branches, whilst a
Reichenow’s Seedeater sat right next to it. This was not a typical
young Lanner as it showed head pattern at least partly suggesting a
young Barbary Falcon (see images and discussion). Kingfisher Swamp was
disappointing even though it looked in fine condition for marsh birds.
A few Yellow-crowned Bishops were seen, but this species was met with
in several other localities today. Kingfisher Picnic Site was much
more entertaining, mainly because of the fearless handout-seekers.
Superb Starlings were almost on my feet whilst Red-cheeked
Cordon-bleus were almost under them. Joining these expectantly were
Bulbuls, Purple Grenadiers, Red-billed Firefinches, Kenya Rufous
Sparrows, and Holub’s Golden Weavers. It was quite a show, in the
trees were the usual resident Lesser Honeyguide, Brown Parisomas and
Red-throated Tits, and of course the Striped Kingfishers which give
the place its name… amongst others that added to the days total and at
this point we had attained 130 species which seemed very good for a
time when there were no migrants to boost the list (we had surpassed
100 on leaving Hyena Dam). On the drive past the old burnt area there
were our first Hildebrandt’s Starlings for the day, and seen on a
further number of occasions along the southern road. There have been
days when the species has not been recorded, so it appeared that birds
were returning, but the rarest species along here was a Parrot-billed
Sparrow, the first ever in the Kingfisher area!!!

We thought that the roads to Maasai Gate and Ololo would be dodgy and
they were and chose to enter on the road direct to the quarry picking
up a Banded Parisoma, a pair of Crimson-rumped Waxbills, Pangani
Longclaw and our fourth Passer of the day in Chestnut Sparrow. Towards
Leopard Cliffs we had a young Great Spotted Cuckoo (see image), and a
Jacobin Cuckoo, no sign of the Pallid Honeyguide returning to its
usual fig, nor anything else on the Mokoyeti ford. Climbing the Road
of Pain from the Mbagathi towards the junction with the main road was
a Southern Black Flycatcher in open Acacia mellifera savannah,
mentioned because I have never seen one leave the immediate vicinity
of the Mbagathi River before, or in open country and not riverine
forest or thick woodland, (see image). There was also a Long-billed
Pipit in the same place (see image).

With nothing but Speckle-fronted Weavers and another Banded Parisoma
at the woodland above the Hippo Pools, we continued along the
Mbagathi, one tree had a few birds in it including Abyssinian
Scimitarbill and Black Cuckooshrike, and with Rhino Circuit
inaccessible we carried on along the road towards Cheetah Gate finding
a pair of displaying d’Arnaud’s Barbets (see image), whilst another
called nearby, and our first pair of Secretarybirds and a pair of
Vitelline Masked Weavers with the male in full breeding colours,
another species that had not been recorded in quite a while. Ignoring
the access to Athi Dam from the Pipeline we entered from the main road
which was in good condition although the Causeway was a bit muddy in
places. In the far SE corner were four Water Thick-knees with a fifth
in the far SW corner (see image), so one was missing as the last count
was six together, there were the usual Spotted Thick-knees under the
mellifera in the SE corner as well. Along the edge of the dam were 35
White-faced Whistling-Ducks, the highest number for a long while, also
a pair of Hottentot Teal, and five Southern Pochards the first in a
long time, and more extraordinarily all were drakes, (see images). An
Open-billed Stork rested on the island; there were also a few African
Spoonbills, four roosting Black-crowned Night-Herons, and two
Red-knobbed Coot. No migrant waders remaining, but there were two
Black-winged Stilts still hanging on suggesting that these might be
African and not Palearctic, but I suppose we do not know whether some
Palearctics do oversummer. On emerging on the rim of the Basin we came
across a herd of some 300 Buffalo that had attracted over a hundred
Cattle Egrets, which is an high number for NNP.

The Vulture-Drinking Pools had no Vultures, just a sleepy Red-billed
Teal, so we continued northwards but not on the usual short cut,
Empakasi Junction Dam gave another pair of Red-billed Teal and a pair
of Little Grebes and a fly-by immature Great Spotted Cuckoo, at the
flooded murrum pits near the Beacon were the usual three Mountain
Reedbucks, and the pair of Banded Martins seen there prospecting on
previous recent visits were now going into a hole. Crossing the
grasslands was a pair of White-bellied Bustards, another
Secretarybird, our seventh Black-winged Kite for the day, our
fifteenth Diederic Cuckoo, and direct flying flock of thirty Banded
Martins, a Barn Swallow in the same place as four were seen last
Sunday, and the days only Rosy-breasted Longclaw. As the grasslands
are by far the most extensive habitat in the Park, grassland birds are
virtually recorded throughout. White-winged Widowbirds were very
common in the north but few in the south, Red-collared were fairly
common in the north and not in the south, Jackson’s were few in the
north, but several flocks of over fifty non-breeding birds in the
Beacon area. Over the entire Park, Desert was outnumbering
Pectoral-patch Cisticola which was a surprise, Zitting were displaying
in ten territories, Croaking were very widespread apart from the
extreme north, other grassland species Stout and Winding were common,
but Winding needed some bushes nearby, the Parks most abundant
Cisticola is not a grassland species, but Siffling were singing
wherever there were bushes or forest edge with the exception of the
eastern Mbagathi. To complete the cisticola species Rattling were
probably the commonest bird in the southern dry bushland, Singing were
common all over the bushed north and southern riverine and we did not
encounter a Red-faced.

Karen Primary School Dam was interesting with two White-faced
Whistling-Ducks, a Little Grebe but the second bird could have been
hidden on a nest, with hardly any cover and a new record for this dam
were three adult Black-crowned Night-Herons, the Lesser Moorhen has
now become two and a single Crowned Crane sat on its nest. The days
only Tawny Eagle was along the Mokoyeti, and the last stop was a
Glossy Ibis that had dropped in at Hyena Dam. We exited through
Langata Gate at 5.00pm picking up a few last birds in the forest and
another pair of Crowned Cranes on the Langata Vlei, and closing the
day at 185 species which is a good total for June, especially when
Nigel’s records show that the previous highest number recorded in a
day in June was 163.

Mammals were excellent, plains game largely Beacon to Athi Basin. Our
only Lion was the ginger-maned large male along the eastern Mbagathi.
Four White Rhinos formed a complete roadblock as we tried to get to
Langata Gate, and were reluctant to get up.

Best for now
Brian

KEY TO MONTAGE

1	MOUNTAIN REEDBUCK
Obviously enjoying the view!

2	SOUTHERN POCHARD
This is not even an annual visitor to NNP anymore, interesting that
these five at Athi Dam are all drakes. I seem to remember reading at
some time that the males and females do at times associate with own
gender, but can’t remember where.

3	WATER THICK-KNEE
It seems this species is now a fixture at Athi Dam. There were six in
late May, so one is missing as there were only five to be seen.

4	LANNER FALCON(?)
This is an interesting beast, when we found it sitting on top of a
tree right at the junction to Kingfisher from the Kisembe ridge, it
was quite wet. As all other birds in the Park looked dry, and there
had been no rain, this suggested that the bird had arrived in NNP
having passed through a rainstorm. It did not appear particularly
large, but fortunately there was a key for scale, in that a rather
bold Reichenow’s Seedeater flew in and landed next to it. These are
11cm in length, and the falcon appeared about four times the length of
the Seedeater which would place it around 44cm, which matches the
length of Lanner, Barbary and Peregrine, but a conspicuous feature on
this bird quickly eliminated the last named. The head had a very
complex patterning of rufous, blackish and whitish. It had a prominent
white supercilium which continued as conspicuously down both sides of
the back of the head to the nape. This is not a regular feature in
Lanners of any ages. The forehead was pale, but restricted to
immediately above the base of the bill, behind this, a much larger
area of blackish covered the forehead up to the top of the crown, the
top of the crown was a pale orange-buff which only extended to the
back of the head. On the nape was a blackish “Y” this was completely
encircled by the extension of the pale supercilium and crossed the
nape as a very narrow hind-collar. This patterning suggested an
immature Barbary Falcon rather than Lanner.
Immatures of all three species have coarse dark-brown linear streaking
on the breast and flanks, but Barbary has less than the other two, and
in this bird the striping was very bold, and on the flanks was all
dark with small whitish blotches, the undertail was unmarked greyish,
there tends to be barring in Peregrine and blotches in Barbary, but
not all as some are plain. The tail barely extended beyond the wing
tip. Tail pattern not seen, and the bird stayed perched and that is
how we left it, so no underwing or upperwing seen.
I tried to find a match for the strange “Y” mark on the nape, and
having consulted very many images, have only succeeded in locating one
on an immature bird, and that was on a young Barbary, and one from an
adult and that was on a Lanner of the race feldeggi, both from a paper
titled “Field Identification of large Falcons of the Western
Palearctic,’ by Shirihai, Forsman and Christie, and illustrated by
John Gale reproduced below:


Compare these images to the bird on the Montage. In spite of many
features of Barbary, I still feel that the amount of dark on
underparts and particularly flanks, is too suggestive of Lanner.
However as this is far from a normal Lanner, I am going to seek the
advice of the expert “raptorphiles” and will advise of any outcome.
If the opinion supports this to be a Lanner, then it is a flag to be
wary of future Barbary Falcon records, and if it is a Barbary then I
am very happy I studied it in detail.

5	HOTTENTOT TEAL
This pair was on Athi Dam.

6	YELLOW-BILLED EGRET
Usually this is a species seen singly. This image is six of a party of
ten but they wouldn’t all fit in. This suggests the species migrates
to new areas as a group, and is not a gathering of birds moving
singly. I wonder if Yellow-billed Egrets are currently turning up in
parties at many other locations. It’s not something we have any idea
about the movements of.

7	GLORIOSA SUPERBA
Never, ever, ever have I seen a show of Gloriosa like this one at the
upper Mokoyeti Bridge (a couple of kilometres south of Nagalomon Dam).

8	LESSER STRIPED SWALLOW
I just like them, and currently they are over the whole Park.

9	SNOWY BARBET
For something like fifteen years I have been trying to instil the idea
that this bird is a Kenyan endemic and not just a race of the
widespread White-headed Barbet. Then finding that White-headed Barbet
was resident on the west wall of the Ngongs really convinced me. Then
a couple of years ago BirdLife produced their “Illustrated Checklist
to the Birds of the World,” and in it they had split off Lybius senex
as a species in its own right and called it Brown-and-White Barbet,
for a bird that is ¾ white! Even before this was published a few of us
referred to the bird as the Snowy Barbet, and the new name of
Brown-and-White Barbet was heinous, and it was also offensive. This
name was coined by someone who didn’t even leave the building he was
writing from, without any attempt at liaising with the people that
live with the bird (and it is a Kenyan endemic), the name was created
and we are expected to use it? Surely if you are a foreigner and about
to name a bird belonging entirely to another nation, then out of
consideration for those people (especially the citizen birders),
wouldn’t you say something like…”look we are about to split off Lybius
senex from White-headed Barbet, we appreciate that it is only found in
Kenya, and will only ever be seen in Kenya, what would be your
preferred name?” Well they didn’t, it was a case of: it is called
Brown-and-White Barbet so use it! Well we won’t, it’s Snowy Barbet,
it’s the only nearly all white barbet there is, it’s a common garden
bird in many suburbs, it’s daily in my garden where Brown-and White
Barbet has never been seen, and never will be! That’s moan of the day
out of the way!

10	RED-KNOBBED COOT
These Coots are not a regular feature in NNP, but there seems to be an
influx this season, last couple of weeks singles Nagalomon Dam, Athi
Dam and even the Vulture Drinking Pools, and now four together Hyena
Dam and three at Athi Dam.

11	SOUTHERN BLACK FLYCATCHER
This is the bird that broke the mould and was found in Acacia
mellifera savannah, first time away from the immediate vicinity of the
Mbagathi River.

12	GREAT SPOTTED CUCKOO
Two birds were encountered today and both immatures.

13	LONG-BILLED PIPIT
This bird was in a regular haunt near the woodland above Hippo Pools.

14	d’ARNAUD’S BARBET
This pair out towards the noisy pylons on the road to Cheetah Gate,
was displaying and calling to another bird not so far away.

15	BUFFALO SURROUNDED BY CROCODILES
This unusual sight was on the sand spit at Nagalomon Dam. Whilst only
four crocodiles in this image, there were in fact seven warming up on
the spit, but the Buffalo seems to totally ignore them. Mind you with
two Egyptian Geese for protection it probably instils extra
confidence!