Paul Harris' Birding
in Kenya !

After the first day spent in Nairobi National Park and an excursion over to Lake Magadi, we followed a course which took us to the Central Highlands and then over to Kakamega via the Solio Plains and Lakes  Naivasha, Nakuru, Elmenteita and Baringo. After leaving the forest at Kakamega, we stopped briefly at Lake Victoria before spending 2 days driving through the Masai Mara and back to Nairobi.

Highlights.

The series of fresh water and soda lakes in the Rift Valley - particularly Lake Nakuru with its million + Lesser Flamingos which were visible many kilometers  away appearing as a band of pink fringing the lake.

Driving through the Solio Plains and enjoying about 30 Montagu,s Harriers within an hour and an elegant Swallow-tailed Kite which passed overhead and hovered briefly before flying off.

The first morning in the forest at Kakamega where we arrived at dawn and were surrounded by a chorus of unfamiliar birdsong. I was so moved by the experience that when the birds started to appear in the tops of the trees I stepped back off the track to get a better view and dropped down 2 meters  into a stream below | the number of times that's almost happened to me ! I was grateful to escape with grazed shins and mud all over my new Leicas.

Looking at the picture in the guide, it doesn't look a very spectacular bird, but the African Broadbill we tracked down in the forest, with its distinctive vibrating call and circular display flight ,will be one of the first birds I think of whenever recalling the Kenyan trip.

The late afternoon at the Rondo Retreat near the forest where we walked through the beautiful garden as the sun was beginning to go down to the sound of an excellent choir practising hymns and then coming across a group of 5 Great Blue Turacos high up above us in the canopy-unreal !

Lake Victoria with a flock of about 50 African Skimmers, the  Malachite, Grey-headed and Woodland Kingfishers and a chance to compare good numbers of winter plumage Whiskered and White-winged Terns | why did I ever think they were difficult to separate?

The Masai Mara was ,of course, great. Of the many fantastic views of raptors we had , the Martial and Bataleur Eagles stand out. Also memorable were 100s of White Storks feeding amongst the grass looking like so many grazing sheep, or soaring on thermals with Marabou and Abdim,s Storks. That's not to mention the mammals that we had to tear ourselves away from the birds to watch -lions, zebras, rhinos, cheetahs, hippos, giraffes and 3 leopards. One of these entertained us chasing lizards and sniffing flowers along the edge of a ridge only 30 meters away, proving that they do other things besides sleeping up in trees with legs sprawled either side of a branch.

Click on the picture to see a larger version.

Almost every place we went there were new sunbirds, cisticolas and weavers. I remember most of the male sunbirds, especially the Tacazze and Golden-winged, and a lot of the male weavers but the cisticolas ? ? Well, at least Zitting Cisticola was a familiar bird.

We were lucky throughout to see so many birds in full breeding plumage. The drought before Christmas had been followed by a lot of rain which had instigated breeding activity amongst many species. Particularly spectacular were the Jackson's and Long-tailed Widowbirds and the Straw-tailed Whydah.

So, 559 birds and 50 mammals later (no refund for the 41 birds I didn't see) and we were back in Nairobi. Sitting here now looking out of the window at Dusky Thrushes searching for food under the snow, it seems difficult to believe I was there only a few weeks ago.. I only have one regret - I wish I,d done the coastal extension but I didn't have enough time ( or money ) | the Crab Plover and Sooty Gull will have to wait until the next trip.