NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK 21st OCTOBER 2019

Dear All,
On 21st October Nigel Hunter, Fleur Ng’Weno and myself visited Nairobi
National Park, for a public holiday it was not very busy, but perhaps
the recent localised heavy rains had been a deterrent. The wet
conditions stopped us from going anywhere near the Kisembe Forest to
Langata Gate, the road alongside the Kingfisher Swamp, the road from
the Maasai Gate road to Ololo, Rhino Circuit, beyond the Pipeline and
the back access to Athi Dam, the East Gate nursery and the Eland
Hollow area back to the Hyena Dam run-off. So many important areas
were unavailable to us today and we got around all other areas without
any incidents.

We were through the gate just before 7am; it was gloomy and very very
quiet. By 21st October many first arrivals of Palearctic migrants are
usually represented, but today our only Palearctic passerines were
Barn Swallows! The migrants are not here, earlier than this last year
our Great Spotted Eagle was already back on his winter territory, and
announcing it vocally as well. However today we were to find one of
the rarest Palearctics ever to visit NNP!

Little at Ivory Burning Site, a very large adult female African
Goshawk sat on a low branch, the Lesser Striped Swallows are away on
their annual migration to parts unknown even though their nest
parasitic neighbours the White-rumped Swifts were back on territory. A
Zanzibar Greenbul was singing, as were the first of the African
Moustached Warblers that were very noisy and conspicuous over much of
the Park. Nagalomon Dam water levels had risen and four Yellow-billed
Storks were fishing off the bridge. Black-crowned Night-Herons were
back in numbers prior to breeding, Sacred Ibis had finished breeding,
but it looks like a dozen Darters are ready to nest again. There were
many Reed Cormorants and one Great Cormorant. Not a single Palearctic
Wader apart from a couple of Black-winged Stilts. The prize bird was a
rather late Madagascar Pond Heron, which flew from behind the island
down to the other end of the dam and landed on the top of a tree as
they do. Interestingly it was in non-breeding dress, still with
extremely heavily streaked head and neck, a strikingly contrasting
black saddle, but whiter both on the belly and the entire wings.
Another seven Yellow-billed Storks and eight African Spoonbills were
round the edge, (maybe the latter are returning to breed); two Little
Grebes were at the far end, as was the first of five Great Egrets,
which is a large count in NNP.