NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK 10th November 2019, Park and Pentad

Dear All,

The visit to the Park last Monday was devoted to the Atlas, and has
been posted to the net. My home Pentad came in with the highest total
at 172 species for the day.
There is a provision for recording for five consecutive days in the
one Pentad, and so for Finch Pentad we decided to build on this 172,
and although I was home all week and did not leave this property, over
Tuesday up to Friday 8th I made three forays per day up into the
Paddock, early morning, late morning and late afternoon to evening. In
those ensuing days in spite of the inexplicable absence of migrants, I
added in old taxonomic order Yellow-billed Egret, Scaly Francolin,
African Harrier-Hawk, African Goshawk, African Hawk-Eagle (only our
second ever), Long-crested Eagle, African Crowned Eagle, Martial
Eagle, Barn Owl, African Green Pigeon, Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove (our
days ridiculous miss in NNP), Hartlaub’s Turaco, Mottled Swift, Common
Swift, Montane Nightjar, Eurasian Bee-eater, Golden-tailed Woodpecker,
Black Cuckoo-shrike, Blackcap, Yellow-whiskered Greenbul, Yellow
White-eye, White-starred Robin, Parrot-billed Sparrow and Village
Weaver which brought the Full Protocol for the Pentad to 197 species.

On Saturday morning a Golden-breasted Bunting was singing away outside
the window but too late!

When we had the Long-crested Eagle, I was trying to photograph it and
whilst doing so an adult African Hawk-Eagle was as mentioned before,
only our second for the property, and is rare enough in NNP coming
from lower drier habitats, came hurtling into the paddock, so I
stopped concentrating on the Long-crested turned to photograph the
African Hawk-Eagle and finished up with neither. There must be a moral
here!
……………………………..

On 10th November birding in NNP was going to be different, I was going
for the day but my wings would be clipped as we would be looking
concertedly for mammals, and birds would be as good as off the menu!

Biddy and Charlie Davis and myself left the house, the roads being
clear we were at the Main Entrance of NNP in twelve minutes. There
were not many people at the paying station just one group of four
ahead of us, and we were through the gate at 6.20am. The very first
bird was a Black Cuckooshrike, a species not see anywhere in the Park
during our big Atlas day last Monday. We did not visit either
Nagalomon or Hyena Dams, but headed straight out towards Athi. Along
the Mokoyeti there was a male Pallid Harrier, and one seen later had
chosen a very strange perch, on the top or the SGR!
We had a pair of Lions at No.8, Kitili and his brother. All through
the day, other searchers were asking if we had seen anything today,
and we would answer two lions at No. 8, and everyone all through the
day replied that they had seen them. So there must have been many
hundreds of people today who left the Park contented as they saw this
pair which remained on show for most of the day evidently.
We found our first Rhinos, and between the Hyena basin and Athi basin
we were to find 23 Rhinos, 8 Black and 15 White, but strangely none at
all in the Kingfisher area where they are usually to be found.
Amongst, the other mammals we had 11 species of Antelopes, the most
interesting being a mixed group of Common and Defassa Waterbucks near
the descent to Athi Dam (see image). Mammals resembling both former
species are unquestionably present, but the validity of even accepted
racial differences in Kenya is questioned, let alone acceptance as
full species. So only one Waterbuck is in the list of our eleven
Antelopes. We encountered five Black-backed Jackals plus nearly the
whole range of other plains game. In the evening we found twelve more
Lions loafing in a valley on a track I had never been on before, along
a valley that must be the Kisembe River near No. 29.
What I found is, (and maybe this is a bit prejudiced), on birding days
in NNP, we see an impressive variety of mammals, yet on a dedicated
mammal day, you just don’t see the birds! I suppose it is because
birders are slow and methodical searching every corner for something
tucked away, and in doing so discover some good mammals. Mammal people
are already programmed for a different type of search, with larger
targets that are not necessarily more obvious than a small bird, but
many are oblivious to small things sitting on bushes let alone waiting
to see what hops through the interior of a bush. It would be true to
say that all birders are interested in the mammals, it’s a shame the
reverse is not true as with the complete package it has to give a
better reward at the end of the day. I will stop philosophising now!
But whilst mammaling I did see a few birds of interest, Athi Dam was
really dead, one African Spoonbill and three Sacred Ibis apart from a
few herons, a couple of Greenshank and a Wood Sandpiper. A Water
Thick-knee was calling but not seen, six Spotted Thick-knees were
though and there was a very noisy Banded Parisoma.

We took another road I had never been on which takes off to the north
of the road, west of the SGR crossing of the road and exiting the
Park. It winds around the scrub towards the Mokoyeti Valley and loops
back to the main road. This is also in Finch Pentad and interesting to
see, and there was a nice female Common Buttonquail along here and an
impressive Lappet-faced Vulture. We had our picnic lunch at Mbuni
Picnic Site and were immediately beset upon by the resident
Long-tailed Fiscals, surely these are the only scavenging,
bread-eating true Shrikes in the world. We were also joined by an
immature male Eurasian Golden Oriole, my first for this season and
Black-faced Waxbill was also here. (See images). The best bird of the
day was when we stopped to talk to other mammalers above Athi Basin,
and whilst doing so I noticed two raptors way off in the grass. On
looking at them I was delighted to see it was a pair of adult African
Hawk-Eagles, and wondered if it had anything to do with our visitation
in the Paddock a few days before. One bird sat close by, whilst the
second was eating some prey that had been caught. This scenario was a
bit odd, and not being able to differentiate the sexes did not help.
As there was a couple, had the birds prior to our arrival exhibited
social hunting and together they brought down the prey, as it not at
all a common sight to see both members of a pair on the same prey, in
fact I cannot ever recall seeing an obvious pair of raptors at the
same prey well away from any nest site… or had the male caught the
prey and had presented it to the female as part of pair bonding as
only one adult was feeding and the other sat very peacefully only a
couple of feet away. When they flew off down toward the Mbagathi far
below, the bird that had been feeding carried the rest of the prey. So
had they a nest nearby and one bird ate before carrying the rest off
for the nestlings. We shall never know!
During the day we found four pairs of Grey Crowned Cranes which might
be returning birds, two singles and a pair of Secretarybirds were
encountered, a Martial Eagle, Mottled
Swifts coming down to drink at Athi Dam, and a White-tailed Lark
singing on territory at the Vulture Drinking Pools. Black-winged Kites
were in every obscure corner we visited.

Migrants were restricted to the two Pallid Harriers, a few Eurasian
Bee-eaters, numerous Barn Swallows, and singles of Eurasian Golden
Oriole, Whinchat and Spotted Flycatcher.

So on this day of non-birding I still had such a very enjoyable day
even though candidly I can think of something that would have made it
even better!

Best for now
Brian

KEY TO MONTAGE

1	ME MATES ‘N ME!
The friendly Long-tailed Fiscals at Mbuni Picnic Site.

2	LION
Profile of “Kitili.”

3	BLACK RHINOCEROS
In Athi Basin this male was trying to associate with a mother and
fairly large calf, whom were both showing their displeasure at its
persistence.

4	EURASIAN GOLDEN ORIOLE
The young male that visited Mbuni Picnic Site.

5	COMMON & DEFASSA WATERBUCK
The Common on the left and Defassa on the right from the rear, which
shows the distinctive rump patterns. Part of a mixed group above Athi
Basin.

6	AFRICAN HAWK-EAGLES
A pair of adults at prey above Athi Basin.

7	NILE MONITOR
At Kingfisher Swamp, enjoying the sun and no intention of moving.

8	HILDEBRANDT’S STARLING
One descending from a bush.

9	SGR PASSENGER TRAIN
Another load of immigrants arriving in from Suswa on the train that
goes no-where. Sidney Shema whilst we were atlassing on 4th Nov, made
the comment that the entire SGR is in the same Pentad, and we toyed
with the idea of calling it the “Railway to Nowhere Pentad” in view of
recent published articles calling it exactly that. People will know
what Pentad they are in when they are next to it!

10	LONG-TAILED FISCAL
One of the inhabitants at Mbuni Picnic Site.

11	IMPALA
Nice evening sunlight on a group.

12	BLACK-BACKED JACKAL
One of five seen today, this one is in searching mode.