Andrew
Tuesday 25th March 2003, 23:13
Finally, I have finished the Kenyan Trip report and after proof reading it I feel a great weight off my shoulders. This first instalment covers the first two days of the holiday with some birds but no actual organised birding trips.
10-03-03
Location : Mombassa to Watamu Road, Kenya.
After a very long and uncomfortable flight to Mombassa I was shocked as I stepped out of the nicely air conditioned plane into a Kenyan wall of heat somewhere in the thirties. I promptly opened my Kenyan bird list with two OLIVE PIGEONS on a roof of one of the airport buildings and various Swifts which I could not identify but there were some BARN SWALLOWS, SAND MARTINS & HOUSE MARTINS.
After negotiating some persistent local baggage boys, we still had a very bumpy two hour drive to the hotel to come. I decided to fish out my binoculars to make the trip count for something. One of the hotel staff sat in the back, plying us with drinks all the way. We found it extremely difficult to drink on a road to rival a dilapidated farm track. The driver was doing his level best to emulate Stirling Moss too!
As we went over the first river I added four SACRED IBISES feeding away on exposed mud banks. There were many little birds whizzing past us which was extremely annoying in the least. I decided to call them LMJ’s, namely Little Multicoloured Jobs.
Soon we were impressed by a magnificent BLACK KITE soaring close over the road using it’s forked tail to control it’s flight just like our Red Kite does. A short distance later the next bird to dazzle us was also a raptor. This time an imposing black and brown TAWNY EAGLE soared majestically with finger tipped wings like barn doors across the road from the huge sisal fields towards the coastal forest. I watched mouth agape in awe at this bird that would dwarf our common Buzzards effortlessly.
We neared the first town which was probably Kilifili and a BLACK HEADED HERON passed overhead towards the coast. In the town we had to come to a slower pace which was a bit of a relief really as the driving policies leave a lot to be desired. On the tarmac a splendid AFRICAN PIED WAGTAIL sprinted across unafraid of the traffic. It was quite similar to ours but with a definite pied plumage bearing no greys and a strong white supercilium. Over the buildings several HOOUSE CROWS passed by in search of scraps of food.
Back out in the country, many more LMJ’s flitted about and I came close to identifying some only managing a DARK BACKED WEAVER which was satisfactory enough for me. This was it for the potholed road trip as the van pulled into the hotel and we were greeted by the friendliest staff I have ever come across. A set of cold face cloths and ice cold juices awaited us as we were checked into the Turtle Bay Beach Club resort for the week.
After a long sleep in the room we went out at dusk for supper and typically I looked out for birds and saw lots of AFRICAN PALM SWIFTS circling the skies. These are true swifts in my opinion as they fly with the tail streamers closed together into one streamlined tail. In the palm trees around the pool and the bar side ponds were lots of GOLDEN PALM WEAVERS building nests out of palm leaf strips.
A Sykes Monkey (Monkey) (http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3272&papass=&sort=1) was in a play house eating some food it had stolen from the tables and a giant Hermit Crab made it’s way up one of the paths. I was intrigued in the meat I was eating for supper and an inquiry revealed it to be Tapir. This did not faze me as I went back for seconds. The first day had proven to be a great one as I had achieved ten lifers without even going on a proper birding walk.
11-03-03
Location : Turtle Bay Beach Club, Watamu, Kenya.
Unfortunately we did not have time enough last night to arrange something for today so I decided to do the best I could and survey the hotel grounds and the sea from the beach. Looking out from the balcony I counted the first bird of the day, a BLACK HEADED HERON that flew down the coast over the palm filled hotel grounds.
On the way down to breakfast, I watched some GOLDEN PALM WEAVERS building their nests and fanning their wings to cool off. The dull juveniles often came in to investigate the nests only to be scornfully chased away by their brighter coloured peers. The adults were a bright yellow with a fire red face and a black bill. Some of them attended to more than one nest and the younger one were making poor attempts to create their own nests which were just a mess really.
Watching these birds, I noticed two or three yellow AFRICAN GOLDEN WEAVERS sporting powerful red eyes with black pupils put in an appearance. I studied these birds from the cocktail bar and noticed several Fruit Bats clinging to the ridge of the pizzeria roof. The rest of the morning was spent arranging birding trips for the week.
During lunch in the pool side dining area a flash of blue zoomed down and back over the roof, it was my first ever EURASIAN ROLLER. After lunch we walked out onto the beach (Beach) (http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3221&papass=&sort=1) and a breathtaking WAHLBERG'S EAGLE glided over us, circled a few times up the beach and disappeared back inland. I actually stood there looking up at the black and white raptor with my mouth wide open. I could see some COMMON TERNS at sea flapping about along with many other species of terns.
Walking back to the hotel room I came face to face with a Sykes Monkey in a rhododendron tree. Like an idiot I decided to tease it by clapping my hands hard. This set it off in a nasty mood as it howled at me and shook the tree violently, needless to say I backed off sheepishly.
Later on in the evening around half past five I returned to the beach to do a sea watch armed with the scope. A scan of the waves found many terns including the large CASPIAN TERNS, ROSEATE TERNS, WHITE CHEEKED TERNS and some others I found hard to identify with them being so far off into sea. The terns were feeding on fish that had their presence given away in the wake of the surf over a distant coral reef. I watched them flying over and diving into the water. Some plunged right in whilst others backed off at the very last minute. I could see some larger birds with dark wings too.
Over the scrub covered point I noticed lots of AFRICAN PALM SWIFTS and a few highly probable ETHIOPIAN SWALLOWS feeding in the sky with one or two birds perched in trees. I scanned from the tip of the point inwards and after the swallows I spied a beautiful AFRICAN FISH EAGLE perched in a small tree over looking the water. It took off and circled around the point a few times before settling into a taller tree on the tip. I scoped the bird and we marvelled at this magnificent black and white bird of prey that I had heard and read so much about before. It carried an enormous hubris to match a Sultan’s and rightly so.
Back in the hotel grounds two COMMON BULBULS flitted about in the top of a poolside palm tree. I could not resist watching the weavers by the bar again and watched them coming in to feed on some popcorn. The immatures and females had bicoloured bills and the redness in the males faces varied from bird to bird. Despite not going out on a scheduled bird trip I had managed a very good day’s bird count with thirteen species pushing the holiday count to twenty three for the first two days.
10-03-03
Location : Mombassa to Watamu Road, Kenya.
After a very long and uncomfortable flight to Mombassa I was shocked as I stepped out of the nicely air conditioned plane into a Kenyan wall of heat somewhere in the thirties. I promptly opened my Kenyan bird list with two OLIVE PIGEONS on a roof of one of the airport buildings and various Swifts which I could not identify but there were some BARN SWALLOWS, SAND MARTINS & HOUSE MARTINS.
After negotiating some persistent local baggage boys, we still had a very bumpy two hour drive to the hotel to come. I decided to fish out my binoculars to make the trip count for something. One of the hotel staff sat in the back, plying us with drinks all the way. We found it extremely difficult to drink on a road to rival a dilapidated farm track. The driver was doing his level best to emulate Stirling Moss too!
As we went over the first river I added four SACRED IBISES feeding away on exposed mud banks. There were many little birds whizzing past us which was extremely annoying in the least. I decided to call them LMJ’s, namely Little Multicoloured Jobs.
Soon we were impressed by a magnificent BLACK KITE soaring close over the road using it’s forked tail to control it’s flight just like our Red Kite does. A short distance later the next bird to dazzle us was also a raptor. This time an imposing black and brown TAWNY EAGLE soared majestically with finger tipped wings like barn doors across the road from the huge sisal fields towards the coastal forest. I watched mouth agape in awe at this bird that would dwarf our common Buzzards effortlessly.
We neared the first town which was probably Kilifili and a BLACK HEADED HERON passed overhead towards the coast. In the town we had to come to a slower pace which was a bit of a relief really as the driving policies leave a lot to be desired. On the tarmac a splendid AFRICAN PIED WAGTAIL sprinted across unafraid of the traffic. It was quite similar to ours but with a definite pied plumage bearing no greys and a strong white supercilium. Over the buildings several HOOUSE CROWS passed by in search of scraps of food.
Back out in the country, many more LMJ’s flitted about and I came close to identifying some only managing a DARK BACKED WEAVER which was satisfactory enough for me. This was it for the potholed road trip as the van pulled into the hotel and we were greeted by the friendliest staff I have ever come across. A set of cold face cloths and ice cold juices awaited us as we were checked into the Turtle Bay Beach Club resort for the week.
After a long sleep in the room we went out at dusk for supper and typically I looked out for birds and saw lots of AFRICAN PALM SWIFTS circling the skies. These are true swifts in my opinion as they fly with the tail streamers closed together into one streamlined tail. In the palm trees around the pool and the bar side ponds were lots of GOLDEN PALM WEAVERS building nests out of palm leaf strips.
A Sykes Monkey (Monkey) (http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3272&papass=&sort=1) was in a play house eating some food it had stolen from the tables and a giant Hermit Crab made it’s way up one of the paths. I was intrigued in the meat I was eating for supper and an inquiry revealed it to be Tapir. This did not faze me as I went back for seconds. The first day had proven to be a great one as I had achieved ten lifers without even going on a proper birding walk.
11-03-03
Location : Turtle Bay Beach Club, Watamu, Kenya.
Unfortunately we did not have time enough last night to arrange something for today so I decided to do the best I could and survey the hotel grounds and the sea from the beach. Looking out from the balcony I counted the first bird of the day, a BLACK HEADED HERON that flew down the coast over the palm filled hotel grounds.
On the way down to breakfast, I watched some GOLDEN PALM WEAVERS building their nests and fanning their wings to cool off. The dull juveniles often came in to investigate the nests only to be scornfully chased away by their brighter coloured peers. The adults were a bright yellow with a fire red face and a black bill. Some of them attended to more than one nest and the younger one were making poor attempts to create their own nests which were just a mess really.
Watching these birds, I noticed two or three yellow AFRICAN GOLDEN WEAVERS sporting powerful red eyes with black pupils put in an appearance. I studied these birds from the cocktail bar and noticed several Fruit Bats clinging to the ridge of the pizzeria roof. The rest of the morning was spent arranging birding trips for the week.
During lunch in the pool side dining area a flash of blue zoomed down and back over the roof, it was my first ever EURASIAN ROLLER. After lunch we walked out onto the beach (Beach) (http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3221&papass=&sort=1) and a breathtaking WAHLBERG'S EAGLE glided over us, circled a few times up the beach and disappeared back inland. I actually stood there looking up at the black and white raptor with my mouth wide open. I could see some COMMON TERNS at sea flapping about along with many other species of terns.
Walking back to the hotel room I came face to face with a Sykes Monkey in a rhododendron tree. Like an idiot I decided to tease it by clapping my hands hard. This set it off in a nasty mood as it howled at me and shook the tree violently, needless to say I backed off sheepishly.
Later on in the evening around half past five I returned to the beach to do a sea watch armed with the scope. A scan of the waves found many terns including the large CASPIAN TERNS, ROSEATE TERNS, WHITE CHEEKED TERNS and some others I found hard to identify with them being so far off into sea. The terns were feeding on fish that had their presence given away in the wake of the surf over a distant coral reef. I watched them flying over and diving into the water. Some plunged right in whilst others backed off at the very last minute. I could see some larger birds with dark wings too.
Over the scrub covered point I noticed lots of AFRICAN PALM SWIFTS and a few highly probable ETHIOPIAN SWALLOWS feeding in the sky with one or two birds perched in trees. I scanned from the tip of the point inwards and after the swallows I spied a beautiful AFRICAN FISH EAGLE perched in a small tree over looking the water. It took off and circled around the point a few times before settling into a taller tree on the tip. I scoped the bird and we marvelled at this magnificent black and white bird of prey that I had heard and read so much about before. It carried an enormous hubris to match a Sultan’s and rightly so.
Back in the hotel grounds two COMMON BULBULS flitted about in the top of a poolside palm tree. I could not resist watching the weavers by the bar again and watched them coming in to feed on some popcorn. The immatures and females had bicoloured bills and the redness in the males faces varied from bird to bird. Despite not going out on a scheduled bird trip I had managed a very good day’s bird count with thirteen species pushing the holiday count to twenty three for the first two days.