Thanks again Chege,
The small settlement of Bubisa seems to be a reliable spot for the
White-crowns now which is much closer to Marsabit than I have seen
them before, If not in the settlement on the south of the road, then
there is a small rubbish tip up further on the left side.

The disjunct population of Acacia turnbulliana between Merille and
Laisamis is also very interesting, the substrate is mainly lava on
sand rather than pure sand. Was it known from there before you found
it? William's Larks are so difficult to find north of Marsabit, but
they are on little patches of lava on fairly extensive sand just south
of Marsabit, and in the bushed lava close to Laisamis. It would be a
surprise if this doesn't have Masked as well. Swainson's Sparrows are
in the garden of the Jirive Hotel just outside of Marsabit on the
descent for the Wajir Road, maybe these are also spreading southwards
like Somali. The problem is we just don't have time to explore all
these area!
Very best
Brian


On 11/10/19, chege wa kariuki <chege@birdwatchingeastafrica.com> wrote:
> Hi Brian
>
> Thanks. The poor bird was at Turbi but I see them south of the town and the
> Masked Lark was between Bubisa and Turbi. May be 30km north of Bubisa.
>
> I checked for you as promised where the Acacia turmbuliana is where I
> thought may be Collared Lark might appear. It’s in between Merille and
> Laisamis. Tried looking for one in vain.
>
> Thanks
>
> chege
>
> From: kenyabirdsnet@yahoogroups.com <kenyabirdsnet@yahoogroups.com> On
> Behalf Of Brian Finch birdfinch@gmail.com [kenyabirdsnet]
> Sent: Sunday, November 10, 2019 5:54 AM
> To: chege wa kariuki <chege@birdwatchingeastafrica.com>
> Cc: kenyabirdsnet <kenyabirdsnet@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: Re: [KENYABIRDSNET] Masked Lark Nest Records and others
>
>
>
>
>
> Hi Chege,
> This is all very interesting, was it at Bulisa you found the Starling
> and Masked Larks. The Starlings there are the closest I know to
> Marsabit,
> Best for now
> Brian
>
> On 11/9/19, 'chege wa kariuki' chege@birdwatchingeastafrica.com
> [kenyabirdsnet] <kenyabirdsnet-noreply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>> Dear all
>>
>> Greetings hoping this finds you all well.
>>
>> This morning, Edwin Gichohi, two British birders (Chris and Denise
>> Lamsdell)
>> and I while birding north of Marsabit came across an individual Masked
>> Lark
>> carrying food. We tried to follow but never got a clue where the nest
>> was.
>> Not far later an individual took off about 2mtr from my foot and there was
>> a
>> nest with two eggs. About 3cm deep and 3 wide (internally) attached is
>> the
>> foto of the nest.
>>
>>
>>
>> Then later during the day while photographing Bristle-crowned Starlings
>> feeding together with White-crowned Starling realized one wasn’t super
>> active like the others and never flew away while others did. I checked
>> just
>> to find the immature bird was full of ticks only on the head. I extracted
>> about two dozens of ticks and there were quite a lot of tiny ones that my
>> fat fingers would not remove. Never seen a bird before infested by the
>> large
>> “cow” tick. And the bird looked petty weak.
>>
>>
>>
>> Other nesting records includes last year in Nov an Abbort’s Starling
>> nesting
>> on the same tree with Silvery-cheeked Hornbill in Castle Forest, 3 weeks
>> ago
>> while catching white-eyes for research work was another nest of
>> Silvery-cheeked Hornbill in Castle Lodge and one seen along the road
>> collecting mud and flying a different direction from the current nest
>> meaning there must be another pair breeding.
>>
>> Many thanks and best regards
>>
>>
>>
>> chege
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>> From: kenyabirdsnet@yahoogroups.com <kenyabirdsnet@yahoogroups.com> On
>> Behalf Of Brian Finch birdfinch@gmail.com [kenyabirdsnet]
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 5, 2019 7:15 PM
>> To: kenyabirdsnet <kenyabirdsnet@yahoogroups.com>
>> Cc: birdfinch@gmail.com
>> Subject: [KENYABIRDSNET] NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK 4th NOVEMBER 2019 [4
>> Attachments]
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK 4th NOVEMBER 2019
>>
>> Nigel Hunter picked me up from the house at 6.30am, it was going to be
>> a serious days bird-atlassing in Nairobi National Park, as we were
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> spending the day with Sidney Shema. It was also good to show him just
>> how good “Finch Pentad” really is, and how it really is the runawayst
>> wishes
>>
>> chege
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> contender for the richest avian diversity for a 9 km sided square, on
>> the whole African continent. Before Nigel arrived I had recorded
>> Black-headed Oriole and Black-collared Apalis, two species we were
>> otherwise, not encountering today amongst the staggering 170 other
>> species we were to record just in that one Pentad. This morning (5th)
>> by 8.00am, in our paddock as well as the two species yesterday, I had
>> African Goshawk, Gymnogene, Barn Owl, our lost Golden-tailed
>> Woodpecker, the season’s first Blackcap, (which was the only
>> Palearctic apart from Eurasian Bee-eater and Barn Swallow),
>> Yellow-whiskered Greenbul, White-starred Robin and Parrot-billed
>> Sparrow and the most staggering of all the misses yesterday
>> Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove! I will take a few forays out during the
>> course of today to see if there are any more additions, as a few
>> common species are not revealing their presence.
>> Back to NNP, we covered all the accessible squares in the Park,
>> closing the days total for species inside the Park at 206. There were
>> no particularly unusual finds, but it was a very good day.
>>
>> We met up with Sidney, at 6.45am and being a Monday there was no
>> queue, and after completing the formalities we had a walk around the
>> car-park before going in. Species in the car-park not recorded later
>> were Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater, Snowy Barbet, Green-backed Honeybird,
>> Brown-backed Woodpecker and Northern Double-collared Sunbird.
>>
>> It was quiet driving down to Ivory Burning Site, and rather dull there
>> as well, but the Zanzibar Greenbuls were singing well and the seasons
>> first Black Stork flew by. Nagalomon Dam had a rise in water, and the
>> island appears to be getting smaller, there were only a couple of
>> immature Black-crowned Night-Herons, a black-billed Great Egret was
>> present also, ten African Darters of which a few appeared to be on
>> nests, an adult Fish Eagle was keeping watch and the only migrant
>> waders here were a couple of Black-winged Stilts, Green Sandpiper and
>> a Common Sandpiper. A possible Marsh Warbler crossed from the dense
>> scrub on one side of the road to equally dense cover on the other, but
>> not seen thereafter. White-rumped Swifts were flying around the
>> Mokoyeti bridge at the outlet to the dam, and by now, it was time to
>> take the back road to Hyena Dam.
>>
>> We were finding a good number of birds along here, one flying eaglet
>> was at the Fish Eagles nest, one of just two Augur Buzzards, a
>> Red-faced Cisticola at the creek was important as it meant that we
>> finished the day with all ten Cisticola species, and this is the most
>> unreliable. There were male Red-collared Widowbirds in colour but with
>> brownish edgings to the wings, at the units the House Sparrows,
>> Village Indigobirds etc., were waiting for us, but also a Spotted
>> Flycatcher and the first Tree Pipit for the season. Just before
>> arriving at Hyena Dam we broke the news to Sidney that our tradition
>> was that we do not eat breakfast until we can leave Hyena Dam with 100
>> species recorded up to there, we left Hyena Dam with 115. The dam had
>> another Fish Eagle, eight Black-winged Stilts, a pair of Long-toed
>> Plovers, the seasons first Common Snipe, Greenshank, ten Wood, three
>> Green and two Common Sandpipers, a few Barn Swallows and a Sand Martin
>> resting amongst the numerous Plain Martins present, and finally three
>> Greater Blue-eared Starlings.
>>
>> Taking the circuit along the Mokoyeti we picked up African Water Rail
>> at the oxbow, another Black Stork, a lone Marabou on the vlei, also
>> still present in the evening and it was the only one seen all day! The
>> first few of over a dozen Black-winged Kites seen today, the days only
>> Wire-tailed Swallow, a Nightingale flew off the side of the road near
>> the Mokoyeti Bridge and sat for a while in a bush, a seasonal first,
>> but no Nightingales were heard anywhere. Back at Nagalomon Dam was the
>> days first African Spoonbill.
>>
>> We set off for Kingfisher Picnic Site, but detoured to drive through
>> the forest section just on top of the Kisembe plateau, in the forest
>> we found the first of three Tawny Eagles for the day, as well as
>> Narina Trogon, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, Cabanis’ Greenbul, White-eyed
>> Slaty Flycatcher, Willow Warbler and Black-and-White Mannikin, all of
>> which were not encountered again. We also found a party of another
>> four Tree Pipits. As time was running away now we did not take the
>> road alongside the Kingfisher Swamp, added a few at the picnic site
>> but strangely not Red-throated Tit, and Banded but not Brown Parisoma!
>>
>> As we passed the old burnt area there were a pair of Shelley’s
>> Francolins, and the season’s first Booted Eagle, a pale bird. Another
>> seasonal first was a young Isabelline Shrike with the only rufous
>> being the tail, and a second similar bird seen later near “The
>> Beacon.” On the road to Ololo we had a pair of Secretarybirds with one
>> on a nest atop a Balanites, a male Bateleur, a pair of White-bellied
>> Bustards, the seasons first Isabelline Wheatear and the only wheatear
>> of the day, a few Speckle-fronted and ten Grey-headed Social-Weavers.
>> Because it was 1 pm now, much later than we usually arrive at Ololo,
>> it was quiet but Brown Parisomas were noisy and so was a Greater
>> Honeyguide. Towards Leopard Cliffs were a few Eurasian Bee-eaters,
>>
>> The late hour also meant no singing Pallid Honeyguide below Baboon
>> Cliffs although the Lesser in the same fig, was very vocal, and nearby
>> the young Martial Eagle was on its nest.
>> Climbing the hill away from the Mbagathi we had a lone Grey-headed
>> Silverbill, but more interestingly it was carrying nesting material
>> and although African Silverbill has nested in the Park, Grey-headed
>> has never suggested that it did though I suppose we should not be too
>> surprised. In the woodland above Hippo Pools we had the first Spotted
>> Thick-knee recorded at this site, a Long-billed Pipit and several more
>> Speckle-fronted Weavers, whilst along the river we found the season’s
>> first Steppe Eagle, and likewise first Red-backed Shrikes with two
>> adult males and a female, followed by the first Whinchat and another
>> three different birds seen around the dam near the Empakasi junction.
>> Whilst not following all of the Rhino Circuit because of recent
>> flooding we drove into the woodland as far as enough to find three
>> Red-throated Tits and Lesser Masked Weaver, and also entered Athi Dam
>> from the west side as the Pipeline road access would almost certainly
>> be treacherous. The water level was well up and only fragments of
>> margin, otherwise the water was in the vegetation. Species found
>> included four White-faced Whistling-Ducks, a couple of Yellow-billed
>> Storks were the only Storks present, a couple of African Spoonbills
>> and Black-crowned Night-Herons, a Striated Heron, Great Egret, a
>> drinking Secretarybird, adult Fish Eagle, Lappet-faced Vulture, four
>> Water and one Spotted Thick-knee, only four Black-winged Stilts, a
>> Marsh Sandpiper, three Greenshanks, two Little Stints and three Ruffs,
>> and the best bird being an adult Whiskered Tern. Banded Parisoma and
>> Lesser Masked Weavers were in the mellifera stands.
>>
>> On the return which was rather hurried as we were getting late, a
>> Little Grebe on the Vulture Drinking Pools and a couple of Banded
>> Martins over the adjacent grassland, on flooded ground near “The
>> Beacon” were pairs of Yellow-billed Duck and Red-billed Teal, another
>> Shelley’s Francolin, and in another flooded area, an adult Martial
>> Eagle standing in water where the only prey could have been frogs!
>> Also a pair of Pangani Longclaws in the grasslands, at Karen PS Dam
>> another White-faced Whistling Duck, a male Pallid Harrier and
>> Rosy-breasted Longclaw when almost back to the Hyena Dam run-off where
>> there was a superb sight of three adult and one immature Black Storks
>> by the road. The first pair of Grey Crowned Cranes at last made
>> appearance with another pair on the way to Langata Gate, and for the
>> up to now missing Black Crake today we stopped back at the Oxbow along
>> the upper Mokoyeti, and called one out with the App!!!
>> It was fairly uneventful on the way to Langata Gate where we exited at
>> 5.50pm.
>>
>> Some muddy sections had not dried out after the rains last week, and
>> could be hazardous.
>>
>> Mammals were widespread with no major concentrations, apart from Athi
>> Basin and adjacent river.
>>
>> The Gladiolus that used to be ukambensis is having a major flowering
>> whilst altogether the flowers are not very impressive in spite of the
>> heavy rains.
>>
>> Best to all
>> Brian
>>
>> KEY TO MONTAGE
>>
>> 1 YELLOW-BILLED DUCK
>> Only one pair seen, but unusual to have them at nearly eye-level. An
>> underrated attractive duck.
>>
>> 2 COMMON WAXBILL
>> Very common, but the pattern in breeding is very intricate and not
>> often appreciated.
>>
>> 3 BOOTED EAGLE
>> Small numbers winter locally, and this is the first to arrive back in
>> NNP this season.
>>
>> 4 ISABELLINE SHRIKE
>> Two red-tailed shrike types were seen today and in both the patterns
>> were similar. The only rufous on the bird is the tail, and the bird
>> is quite attractively marked.
>>
>> 5 BLACK STORK
>> These four were together where the stream that crosses the Hyena Dam
>> run-off crosses the road.
>>
>> 6 WATER THICK-KNEE
>> This is three of the four seen at Athi Dam.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> 
>
>