wolfbirder
Well-known member
Brilliant, thank you:t:
-
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The Masai Mara in August (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter kitefarrago
- Start date
Tree Sparrow
Well-known member
I have just read your report from the beginning and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Hopefully there will be quite a bit more to come. I do like the style of your report 
.
.
kitefarrago
Well-known member
Antelopes
If you travel to the Mara in August you certainly expect plenty of wildebeest, and as reported previously, there were plenty of those. The way they move around seems almost random, and sometimes you see a swathe of savanna dotted everywhere with some of their number, and sometimes you are in a spot where there were hardly any at all. What was noticeable was that while it was dry they seemed to moving in the general direction of the Mara river, and so Tanzania, but when we'd had a couple of nights' worth of decent rain the moved back into the Mara. Grass was mostly rather short because they'd been there for some time already.
Wildebeest behaviour was puzzling in other ways as well. They must see loads of cars, both in the Mara and in the Serengeti, but they still eye these with some suspicion. Sometimes they look as if cars don't bother them at all, and sometimes they get spooked by cars for reason that I couldn't see. And, of course, if one wildebeest starts to run then the ones nearby have to adopt the same tactic for obvious reasons. The guides would shake their head about wildebeest in much the same manner I've seen people in the UK react to sheep.
Of course, the wildebeest migration does not consist of merely those, so what other antelopes can one hope to see?
Both Grant's and Thompson's gazelles were fairly plentiful, and the preferred prey item for cheetahs. They tend to be quite wary, so don't expect to get too close to them - they will move. We did see one very odd Grant's gazelle, which was female (no dangly bits) but sported rather oddly shaped horns.
Those two seemed to prefer open areas, whereas the other small-ish antelope, the impala, seemed to be sticking to bushy areas. I did watch a cheetah hunting impala, but when I saw them on kills it was always gazelles. There is an even smaller antelope in the form of Kirk's dikdik. These we saw only a handful of times - they tend to stay well hidden.
With the wildebeest herds there were quite a few kongoni and topi. One tends not to pay too much attention to these, or at least that's true for me. There usually isn't much by way of interesting behaviour to be seen, and there weren't any young around (the other attraction), so I came back with remarkably few pictures of any of these.
The most `interesting' antelope we found were a couple of Bohor reedbucks in the marsh. This is an antelope I hadn't really expected to see so it was nice to be surprised there.
If we go to the large end of the antelope spectrum we have elands, which we saw a reasonably large number off. The ones we did find one can get to quite closely and somebody who is interested in taking photos of these animals should be fine.
1. Thompson's gazelle
2. Impala
3. There was indeed a cheetah in the bushes they ran from
4. Eland
5. Bohor reedbuck
If you travel to the Mara in August you certainly expect plenty of wildebeest, and as reported previously, there were plenty of those. The way they move around seems almost random, and sometimes you see a swathe of savanna dotted everywhere with some of their number, and sometimes you are in a spot where there were hardly any at all. What was noticeable was that while it was dry they seemed to moving in the general direction of the Mara river, and so Tanzania, but when we'd had a couple of nights' worth of decent rain the moved back into the Mara. Grass was mostly rather short because they'd been there for some time already.
Wildebeest behaviour was puzzling in other ways as well. They must see loads of cars, both in the Mara and in the Serengeti, but they still eye these with some suspicion. Sometimes they look as if cars don't bother them at all, and sometimes they get spooked by cars for reason that I couldn't see. And, of course, if one wildebeest starts to run then the ones nearby have to adopt the same tactic for obvious reasons. The guides would shake their head about wildebeest in much the same manner I've seen people in the UK react to sheep.
Of course, the wildebeest migration does not consist of merely those, so what other antelopes can one hope to see?
Both Grant's and Thompson's gazelles were fairly plentiful, and the preferred prey item for cheetahs. They tend to be quite wary, so don't expect to get too close to them - they will move. We did see one very odd Grant's gazelle, which was female (no dangly bits) but sported rather oddly shaped horns.
Those two seemed to prefer open areas, whereas the other small-ish antelope, the impala, seemed to be sticking to bushy areas. I did watch a cheetah hunting impala, but when I saw them on kills it was always gazelles. There is an even smaller antelope in the form of Kirk's dikdik. These we saw only a handful of times - they tend to stay well hidden.
With the wildebeest herds there were quite a few kongoni and topi. One tends not to pay too much attention to these, or at least that's true for me. There usually isn't much by way of interesting behaviour to be seen, and there weren't any young around (the other attraction), so I came back with remarkably few pictures of any of these.
The most `interesting' antelope we found were a couple of Bohor reedbucks in the marsh. This is an antelope I hadn't really expected to see so it was nice to be surprised there.
If we go to the large end of the antelope spectrum we have elands, which we saw a reasonably large number off. The ones we did find one can get to quite closely and somebody who is interested in taking photos of these animals should be fine.
1. Thompson's gazelle
2. Impala
3. There was indeed a cheetah in the bushes they ran from
4. Eland
5. Bohor reedbuck
Attachments
kitefarrago
Well-known member
Waders
This was certainly a group where I had no idea what to expect from the Mara. When preparing for the trip I tried to find a checklist, ideally for this time of year, but I had only mixed success. There is a checklist which is trying to list all the birds ever seen in the Mara (Shoebill is on that list), various lodges/camps have lists, but these are not particularly reliable (with obviously wrong entries on the ones I could find, and lots of omissions), and so I ended up basing the checklist I took on the Avibase one for the Rift Valley, culled via the range maps from Birds of East Africa, which worked okay, but still didn't give me any idea of what was realistic to expect.
The marsh holds a fair number of African Jacana and Black Crake, while it's still wet. Interestingly we saw the highest numbers of these on our first visit, and when we returned after some rain these hadn't replenished as much as other groups.
The marsh can be a bit frustrating since by its nature it doesn't allow for a close approach to all the likely looking areas. It turned out that Black Crakes were really common and seen almost every day, whereas Jacanas we only saw at the marsh.
There are six species of lapwing one might see, Long-toed (only seen at the marsh), Blacksmith (seen only once after recent rains at the marsh), Spur-winged (more of a dry country species seen daily), Crowned (ditto) and Black-winged (seen every other day, near water) and African Wattled (similar). Some of these aren't too bothered by cars and with a good driver (rolling up to the bird at just the right speed, turning off the engine beforehand) should allow good photo opportunities. We even once realized, when we stopped to look at something, that we were right next to a Crowned Lapwing on the nest - if we'd seen the bird we would have stopped a bit further along. The bird did not budge and we tried to move off as quietly as we could manage.
Of the plovers we saw Three-banded almost every other day, but Kittlitz's only once, on our last return to the marsh after we'd had some rain over night. The marsh was a real revelation on that visit: There were lots of waders in the now wet grassland in the vicinity where previously there had been none at all. It was also very frustrating because the area was now wet enough that we couldn't even follow all the tracks. There is a lot of `black cotton soil' in the Mara which becomes amazingly slippery when wet, even with a four wheel drive vehicle. I can easily imagine that over-confident drivers can get stuck in this (and I've read reports to that effect). For us it meant that we saw a lot of waders at a large distance, and since I wasn't carrying a scope lots were unidentifiable. Moreover, they were all very skittish, so even on the tracks we could drive there were some that took off when we were still more than 100 yards away from them.
The other thing I found interesting is that sandpipers can apparently turn up almost everywhere where there's a bit of water, and there were quite a few ponds, streams, and so on, increasing in number after the rainy episode. We saw Marsh, Wood and Common Sandpiper, the latter almost daily, as well as Common Greenshank.
The most surprising wader we found was a Greater Painted-snipe in a marshy bit near the river. We checked out this bit on a number of occasions, sometimes hindered by the fact that there was a popular picnic area nearby, and we did see a handful of birds we didn't see anywhere else. We got very bad views of the painted-snipe on one visit, where we were struggling to work out what it was, and significantly better ones on a subsequent visit. This bird seemed quite relaxed, but unfortunately we couldn't get any closer to it, so photographically record shots were all that could be had with my equipment.
The most pleasing encounter with a wader was right towards the end of my stay. We were negotiating a bit that was tricky to drive on, and from the corner of my eye I saw two birds, which for once my driver had missed. We retraced our steps and found them to be two Spotted Thick-knees, apparently still at the spot where they had roosted. We had seen Water Thick-knee previously, but only once and at a distance, and while the birds moved off when we stopped for them, we did get rather nice views.
Lapwings:
1. Black-winged
2. African Wattled
3. Crowned
4. Spur-winged
5. Long-toed
Andrea
This was certainly a group where I had no idea what to expect from the Mara. When preparing for the trip I tried to find a checklist, ideally for this time of year, but I had only mixed success. There is a checklist which is trying to list all the birds ever seen in the Mara (Shoebill is on that list), various lodges/camps have lists, but these are not particularly reliable (with obviously wrong entries on the ones I could find, and lots of omissions), and so I ended up basing the checklist I took on the Avibase one for the Rift Valley, culled via the range maps from Birds of East Africa, which worked okay, but still didn't give me any idea of what was realistic to expect.
The marsh holds a fair number of African Jacana and Black Crake, while it's still wet. Interestingly we saw the highest numbers of these on our first visit, and when we returned after some rain these hadn't replenished as much as other groups.
The marsh can be a bit frustrating since by its nature it doesn't allow for a close approach to all the likely looking areas. It turned out that Black Crakes were really common and seen almost every day, whereas Jacanas we only saw at the marsh.
There are six species of lapwing one might see, Long-toed (only seen at the marsh), Blacksmith (seen only once after recent rains at the marsh), Spur-winged (more of a dry country species seen daily), Crowned (ditto) and Black-winged (seen every other day, near water) and African Wattled (similar). Some of these aren't too bothered by cars and with a good driver (rolling up to the bird at just the right speed, turning off the engine beforehand) should allow good photo opportunities. We even once realized, when we stopped to look at something, that we were right next to a Crowned Lapwing on the nest - if we'd seen the bird we would have stopped a bit further along. The bird did not budge and we tried to move off as quietly as we could manage.
Of the plovers we saw Three-banded almost every other day, but Kittlitz's only once, on our last return to the marsh after we'd had some rain over night. The marsh was a real revelation on that visit: There were lots of waders in the now wet grassland in the vicinity where previously there had been none at all. It was also very frustrating because the area was now wet enough that we couldn't even follow all the tracks. There is a lot of `black cotton soil' in the Mara which becomes amazingly slippery when wet, even with a four wheel drive vehicle. I can easily imagine that over-confident drivers can get stuck in this (and I've read reports to that effect). For us it meant that we saw a lot of waders at a large distance, and since I wasn't carrying a scope lots were unidentifiable. Moreover, they were all very skittish, so even on the tracks we could drive there were some that took off when we were still more than 100 yards away from them.
The other thing I found interesting is that sandpipers can apparently turn up almost everywhere where there's a bit of water, and there were quite a few ponds, streams, and so on, increasing in number after the rainy episode. We saw Marsh, Wood and Common Sandpiper, the latter almost daily, as well as Common Greenshank.
The most surprising wader we found was a Greater Painted-snipe in a marshy bit near the river. We checked out this bit on a number of occasions, sometimes hindered by the fact that there was a popular picnic area nearby, and we did see a handful of birds we didn't see anywhere else. We got very bad views of the painted-snipe on one visit, where we were struggling to work out what it was, and significantly better ones on a subsequent visit. This bird seemed quite relaxed, but unfortunately we couldn't get any closer to it, so photographically record shots were all that could be had with my equipment.
The most pleasing encounter with a wader was right towards the end of my stay. We were negotiating a bit that was tricky to drive on, and from the corner of my eye I saw two birds, which for once my driver had missed. We retraced our steps and found them to be two Spotted Thick-knees, apparently still at the spot where they had roosted. We had seen Water Thick-knee previously, but only once and at a distance, and while the birds moved off when we stopped for them, we did get rather nice views.
Lapwings:
1. Black-winged
2. African Wattled
3. Crowned
4. Spur-winged
5. Long-toed
Andrea
Attachments
kitefarrago
Well-known member
kitefarrago
Well-known member
foresttwitcher
Virtually unknown member
Great report Andrea.
kitefarrago
Well-known member
Ostrichs, Coursers, Sandgrouse, Gulls and Terns
A slightly eclectic collection here, but they don't seem to fit well together with other species I haven't already covered.
We saw Ostrich on just over half our days out. It's a bit hit and
miss with these - it seems to me that they can turn up anywhere. If one is lucky it's possible to get good photo opportunities.
One one occasions we had a male and two females who were intermittently courting each other. At the same time nearby there was a cheetah that couldn't quite decide whether it was going to just lie in the sun, or whether it wanted to go hunting, so we moved between those two attractions.
It was very interesting to observe that behaviour. First the male was busy using what wings he has to show off his feathers by waving them around, and the females seemed not to pay any attention to him, just feeding. Then, when they'd moved quite some distance, the male started to move off and began looking for food, and that was when the females decided that maybe they did want to know him, after all. And then the cheetah got up to go hunting and we left the ostriches. Sometimes there's too much on offer!
We saw only one species of courser, namely Temminck's. Only a young bird of that species gave me hopes at some point that there was something else. The youngsters aren't illustrated or described in Birds of East Africa and in particular the spotting on the back and the dark belly made me sit up and take note. We had courser roughly every third day. Other species of coursers appear to occur in the Mara, but maybe we didn't find the right habitat, or they're not there all year round.
We also saw only one species of sandgrouse, namely Yellow-throated, and we had those on roughly a quarter of days. Again, distribution maps suggest that other sandgrouse occur in the Mara, but we could not find them.
For both these species it's possible to see them fairly close up with a bit of luck. Sandgrouse can occur in small flocks, but we also had singletons.
We did not see any gulls or terns.
Andrea
1.-3. Ostrich courtship
4. Temminck's Courser
5. Yellow-throated Sandgrouse
A slightly eclectic collection here, but they don't seem to fit well together with other species I haven't already covered.
We saw Ostrich on just over half our days out. It's a bit hit and
miss with these - it seems to me that they can turn up anywhere. If one is lucky it's possible to get good photo opportunities.
One one occasions we had a male and two females who were intermittently courting each other. At the same time nearby there was a cheetah that couldn't quite decide whether it was going to just lie in the sun, or whether it wanted to go hunting, so we moved between those two attractions.
It was very interesting to observe that behaviour. First the male was busy using what wings he has to show off his feathers by waving them around, and the females seemed not to pay any attention to him, just feeding. Then, when they'd moved quite some distance, the male started to move off and began looking for food, and that was when the females decided that maybe they did want to know him, after all. And then the cheetah got up to go hunting and we left the ostriches. Sometimes there's too much on offer!
We saw only one species of courser, namely Temminck's. Only a young bird of that species gave me hopes at some point that there was something else. The youngsters aren't illustrated or described in Birds of East Africa and in particular the spotting on the back and the dark belly made me sit up and take note. We had courser roughly every third day. Other species of coursers appear to occur in the Mara, but maybe we didn't find the right habitat, or they're not there all year round.
We also saw only one species of sandgrouse, namely Yellow-throated, and we had those on roughly a quarter of days. Again, distribution maps suggest that other sandgrouse occur in the Mara, but we could not find them.
For both these species it's possible to see them fairly close up with a bit of luck. Sandgrouse can occur in small flocks, but we also had singletons.
We did not see any gulls or terns.
Andrea
1.-3. Ostrich courtship
4. Temminck's Courser
5. Yellow-throated Sandgrouse
Attachments
kitefarrago
Well-known member
Elephants
I wasn't really expecting to see too many elephants on this trip. It's not something the Mara is famous for, and there are other parks in Kenya which are rather better known for their herds of pachyderms.
It was therefore with some surprise when we encountered our first elephants on my very first game drive. We saw them at a distance, and indeed, how would a small group of large mammals hide themselves in what is largely open savanna? My driver asked whether I'd like to go closer, and of course I said yes.
The sun was high in the sky, and the light wasn't very conducive to photography. It was a small family group, including one calf, although already of a fair size. They were moving across the plains at a deceptive pace, moving consistently while feeding.
Instead of heading for the group as we saw some other vehicles doing, my driver drove around them and placed the vehicle in the animal's path while they were still 100 yards or so off. We were right in the open, so if the animals decided they didn't want to go anywhere near our car they could just have diverted slightly from their route.
On they came, and given that they were constantly feeding I was quite surprised with their rate of progress I was focussing on the calf, and having a chuckle as it decided it, too, wanted to feed, but its trunk coordination wasn't sufficient to actually pull grass out of the ground (or maybe it had picked a particularly well-rooted bunch). It ended up kneeling on its forelegs so that it might try to bite off the grass close to the ground itself.
That slowed mother and youngster down a bit, and I looked around to see what had happened to the rest of the small herd. At this moment I realized that one of the adult animals was on course to pass extremely close to our jeep - it felt as if I could reach out to touch it, or it could reach out with its trunk to pick something up while passing. I held my breath - watching these powerful, yet gentle, animals at such close quarters is quite a breath-taking experience. But the elephant completely ignored us, kept setting one foot in front of the other, ripping out bundles of grass, chewing on them rhythmically, and being completely unconcerned with anything in the vicinity.
When this one had passed I let out my breath, and my driver seemed to be chuckling to himself. In Southern Africa where I've been before everybody keeps their distance, giving elephants plenty of room, but in a completely open environment it's apparently quite different.
We had three further encounters with elephants. Another small herd one morning just as the sun was getting up, and again the animals kept moving almost relentlessly. There were two youngsters with this herd, and the older one did turn to look at us, but as the herd was moving forward he or she soon followed suit.
Five days later we were slowly driving along a winding track through some woodland, looking for birds, when suddenly we came across just one cow with a calf. This felt a bit dodgier - we were in much more confined quarters, and the calf was still quite young, but fortunately the animals met us at right angles, and so we stopped and waited for them, and after second they were gone into the bushes and had become completely invisible.
We met elephants one more time towards the end of my stay, and all the photos attached to this post are from that encounter. The light was better, and we had some time, first allowing the animals to pass us at a bit of a distance, and then repeating the same trick of driving well out in front of them and letting them come to us. This time we didn't have quite such a close encounter, but we were the only car in that position and got to enjoy the animals on their own term, hearing just their chewing, and the grass move as the elephants stepped through it.
Drivers seemed to be really well-behaved around elephants, presumably because they're somewhat intimidating. But by behaving in a way that gives the animals a choice regarding how close they want to come it's possible to have close encounters with these small groups.
We didn't go looking for elephants and I would assume that if somebody specifically wanted to see them then more encounters would be a possibility. But the groups are on the small side, maybe ten to fifteen animals to a group, some of them smaller, and we never saw them at rest. They were always on the move, eating as they went.
Once we were visited by elephants in camp during the night, and I woke up to hear one of the animals pull branches from the tree under which my tent was located. It's quite something to only have a bit of canvas between oneself and an elephant, or hippos (they liked grazing around the site as well), or to hear a lion roar, or a hyena call. You know you're in the bush then.
Andrea
1. On the move
2. Eye-to-eye
3. Mother and child
4. Mum is always close by
I wasn't really expecting to see too many elephants on this trip. It's not something the Mara is famous for, and there are other parks in Kenya which are rather better known for their herds of pachyderms.
It was therefore with some surprise when we encountered our first elephants on my very first game drive. We saw them at a distance, and indeed, how would a small group of large mammals hide themselves in what is largely open savanna? My driver asked whether I'd like to go closer, and of course I said yes.
The sun was high in the sky, and the light wasn't very conducive to photography. It was a small family group, including one calf, although already of a fair size. They were moving across the plains at a deceptive pace, moving consistently while feeding.
Instead of heading for the group as we saw some other vehicles doing, my driver drove around them and placed the vehicle in the animal's path while they were still 100 yards or so off. We were right in the open, so if the animals decided they didn't want to go anywhere near our car they could just have diverted slightly from their route.
On they came, and given that they were constantly feeding I was quite surprised with their rate of progress I was focussing on the calf, and having a chuckle as it decided it, too, wanted to feed, but its trunk coordination wasn't sufficient to actually pull grass out of the ground (or maybe it had picked a particularly well-rooted bunch). It ended up kneeling on its forelegs so that it might try to bite off the grass close to the ground itself.
That slowed mother and youngster down a bit, and I looked around to see what had happened to the rest of the small herd. At this moment I realized that one of the adult animals was on course to pass extremely close to our jeep - it felt as if I could reach out to touch it, or it could reach out with its trunk to pick something up while passing. I held my breath - watching these powerful, yet gentle, animals at such close quarters is quite a breath-taking experience. But the elephant completely ignored us, kept setting one foot in front of the other, ripping out bundles of grass, chewing on them rhythmically, and being completely unconcerned with anything in the vicinity.
When this one had passed I let out my breath, and my driver seemed to be chuckling to himself. In Southern Africa where I've been before everybody keeps their distance, giving elephants plenty of room, but in a completely open environment it's apparently quite different.
We had three further encounters with elephants. Another small herd one morning just as the sun was getting up, and again the animals kept moving almost relentlessly. There were two youngsters with this herd, and the older one did turn to look at us, but as the herd was moving forward he or she soon followed suit.
Five days later we were slowly driving along a winding track through some woodland, looking for birds, when suddenly we came across just one cow with a calf. This felt a bit dodgier - we were in much more confined quarters, and the calf was still quite young, but fortunately the animals met us at right angles, and so we stopped and waited for them, and after second they were gone into the bushes and had become completely invisible.
We met elephants one more time towards the end of my stay, and all the photos attached to this post are from that encounter. The light was better, and we had some time, first allowing the animals to pass us at a bit of a distance, and then repeating the same trick of driving well out in front of them and letting them come to us. This time we didn't have quite such a close encounter, but we were the only car in that position and got to enjoy the animals on their own term, hearing just their chewing, and the grass move as the elephants stepped through it.
Drivers seemed to be really well-behaved around elephants, presumably because they're somewhat intimidating. But by behaving in a way that gives the animals a choice regarding how close they want to come it's possible to have close encounters with these small groups.
We didn't go looking for elephants and I would assume that if somebody specifically wanted to see them then more encounters would be a possibility. But the groups are on the small side, maybe ten to fifteen animals to a group, some of them smaller, and we never saw them at rest. They were always on the move, eating as they went.
Once we were visited by elephants in camp during the night, and I woke up to hear one of the animals pull branches from the tree under which my tent was located. It's quite something to only have a bit of canvas between oneself and an elephant, or hippos (they liked grazing around the site as well), or to hear a lion roar, or a hyena call. You know you're in the bush then.
Andrea
1. On the move
2. Eye-to-eye
3. Mother and child
4. Mum is always close by
Attachments
nick scarle
Leo
Some fabulous photos there, especially with 'only' a 300mm lens.
My kind of trip exactly - spending time to really appreciate what you are seeing rather than just rushing around gathering a long list.
Excellent report, many thanks again
Nick
My kind of trip exactly - spending time to really appreciate what you are seeing rather than just rushing around gathering a long list.
Excellent report, many thanks again
Nick
Really good report
Really nice report and some great photos. I really love camping in Africa and I'm sure we will go back to the Masai Mara again and would certainly consider this camp.
Like you we tend to just do our own thing rather than chasing around after what others have spotted.
Sarah
Really nice report and some great photos. I really love camping in Africa and I'm sure we will go back to the Masai Mara again and would certainly consider this camp.
Like you we tend to just do our own thing rather than chasing around after what others have spotted.
Sarah
Fantastic pictures and account ..had been toying with the idea of a return to Kenya this year, and your report certainly makes it tempting ...but gee, the costs are astronomical these days ...five minutes of spluttering over the park fees, etc and I had already given up on the idea Think I'll be sticking to southern Africa
Think I'll be sticking to southern Africa 
edenwatcher
Well-known member
Heading there in July - certainly whets the appetite!
Rob
Rob
kitefarrago
Well-known member
Pigeons, turacos, cuckoos, mousebirds
Thanks for the very positive feedback, everybody. It's nice to hear
that people are enjoying reading this. Because this isn't really an independent traveller's location in terms of doing one's own driving and bird-finding I wasn't quite sure how interesting people would find it.
Pigeons and doves are surely birds all bird watchers tend to overlook
(unless they are somehow special). So it was with us as well. We
didn't make much of an effort to record them, and I'm pretty sure we
saw and heard them more often than I detail here. We did see Speckled
Pigeon, as well as Red-eyed and Ring-necked Dove. The latter would
have been daily, I'm sure, if I had taken more care with recording
them.
We also found Emerald-spotted Wood Dove and African Green Pigeon on a
couple of occasions. Other doves are possible in the Mara, according
to the distribution maps, but we didn't see any others. Certainly
most of the ones we did see were pretty shy and didn't hang around to
have their picture taken, nor yet to give a decent look. Given the
number of similar looking species this did not help. Some of the ones
that did make it onto the list were heard only.
I was a bit surprised that we didn't see members of the turaco family
more often than we did. We had Bare-faced Go-away-bird on four
occasions, and again I didn't manage any photos. There was a
Schalow's Turaco in camp twice when I was around (that is, early
afternoon). This is apparently a camp speciality. Unfortunately the
bird stayed very high in the trees and I hesitate to call my pictures
record shots even. They're taken directly from below...
The only cuckoo we found was White-browed Coucal, on two out of three
days. Again these were rather secretive, and only twice were we lucky
enough to see one that allowed a picture to be taken. They quite like
to hide themselves in high grass or shrubs.
We also saw one species of mousebird only, namely speckled, and again
none close up. There were some in camp occasionally. In general I
thought that camp might not have been a bad place for birdwatching,
but the way the typical day proceeded I just was never in camp at
times of day when one could expect much action. Nonetheless there are
some species that were only seen in camp.
Between lunch and the afternoon game drive I would usually see what I
could find, but on some days it was quite warm, and nothing much was
stirring. I also found it surprisingly difficult to get decent views
of some of the species I did see. One might have thought that birds
in a location like that would get accustomed to people, but
apparently that's not how it works.
Since I'm struggling badly with illustrating this instalment I'll
revisit some of the birds covered by earlier ones.
Andrea
1 and 5. White-browed Coucal
2. Yellow-throated Sandgrouse
3. Ostrich in lust
4. Young Bateleur
Thanks for the very positive feedback, everybody. It's nice to hear
that people are enjoying reading this. Because this isn't really an independent traveller's location in terms of doing one's own driving and bird-finding I wasn't quite sure how interesting people would find it.
Pigeons and doves are surely birds all bird watchers tend to overlook
(unless they are somehow special). So it was with us as well. We
didn't make much of an effort to record them, and I'm pretty sure we
saw and heard them more often than I detail here. We did see Speckled
Pigeon, as well as Red-eyed and Ring-necked Dove. The latter would
have been daily, I'm sure, if I had taken more care with recording
them.
We also found Emerald-spotted Wood Dove and African Green Pigeon on a
couple of occasions. Other doves are possible in the Mara, according
to the distribution maps, but we didn't see any others. Certainly
most of the ones we did see were pretty shy and didn't hang around to
have their picture taken, nor yet to give a decent look. Given the
number of similar looking species this did not help. Some of the ones
that did make it onto the list were heard only.
I was a bit surprised that we didn't see members of the turaco family
more often than we did. We had Bare-faced Go-away-bird on four
occasions, and again I didn't manage any photos. There was a
Schalow's Turaco in camp twice when I was around (that is, early
afternoon). This is apparently a camp speciality. Unfortunately the
bird stayed very high in the trees and I hesitate to call my pictures
record shots even. They're taken directly from below...
The only cuckoo we found was White-browed Coucal, on two out of three
days. Again these were rather secretive, and only twice were we lucky
enough to see one that allowed a picture to be taken. They quite like
to hide themselves in high grass or shrubs.
We also saw one species of mousebird only, namely speckled, and again
none close up. There were some in camp occasionally. In general I
thought that camp might not have been a bad place for birdwatching,
but the way the typical day proceeded I just was never in camp at
times of day when one could expect much action. Nonetheless there are
some species that were only seen in camp.
Between lunch and the afternoon game drive I would usually see what I
could find, but on some days it was quite warm, and nothing much was
stirring. I also found it surprisingly difficult to get decent views
of some of the species I did see. One might have thought that birds
in a location like that would get accustomed to people, but
apparently that's not how it works.
Since I'm struggling badly with illustrating this instalment I'll
revisit some of the birds covered by earlier ones.
Andrea
1 and 5. White-browed Coucal
2. Yellow-throated Sandgrouse
3. Ostrich in lust
4. Young Bateleur
Attachments
Last edited:
foresttwitcher
Virtually unknown member
Andrea, I think photo 1 in the last post needs re-titling!
kitefarrago
Well-known member
Small mammals
I had high hope that a trip to the Mara would net me some of the
smaller mammals, such as bat-eared foxes, or maybe serval or caracal.
But when the grass is low, which it was this year because the
migration arrived so early then the cats are much harder to see. One
of the cars from our camp had a serval one day, and Brian reported a
caracal in camp in September, so it can certainly happen. One needs a
bit lot luck though.
So which small mammals did we get? The most common one was banded
mongoose. We came across a band of these a few times. However, they
are on the move a lot, and getting photos isn't easy. It was fun to
watch them, ten to fifteen animals, swarming over some fallen trees,
for example, but never hanging about. It felt as if they were always
on their way to somewhere else. It would have been lovely to observe
them a bit longer.
We did also see dwarf mongoose along a river bank, but that sighting
wasn't good enough for photos, and I had a rather fluky sighting of
slender mongoose which happened to run through my binocular view
while I was sitting in camp looking for a bird on the other side of
the river.
Black-backed jackals were reasonably common, but rather wary, until
we found a couple near the end of my stay that were much more
relaxed. We had one sighting side-striped jackal in the dusk. I got
some record photos, but that's all.
The big surprise was a Cape hare. We'd stopped to look at some birds.
After we'd done with that we realized that there was a hare in his
grassy nest close by, sitting very tight and not moving at all
(probably the only way of surviving during daytime). After I'd taken
some photos we left him in piece.
We did go out before sunrise, and came back after sunset, giving us
at least some chance of seeing more nocturnal critters, but none of
the vehicles are equipped with spotlights and I assume that
spotlighting isn't actually allowed. That limited what sightings we
might have had to those we could actually see. The lights on the
Landrovers didn't seem particularly strong either. Well, that's
something else to return to Africa for.
Andrea
1. Banded mongoose
2, 3. Black-backed jackal
4. Kirk's dikdik (the smallest antelope locally)
5. Cape hare
I had high hope that a trip to the Mara would net me some of the
smaller mammals, such as bat-eared foxes, or maybe serval or caracal.
But when the grass is low, which it was this year because the
migration arrived so early then the cats are much harder to see. One
of the cars from our camp had a serval one day, and Brian reported a
caracal in camp in September, so it can certainly happen. One needs a
bit lot luck though.
So which small mammals did we get? The most common one was banded
mongoose. We came across a band of these a few times. However, they
are on the move a lot, and getting photos isn't easy. It was fun to
watch them, ten to fifteen animals, swarming over some fallen trees,
for example, but never hanging about. It felt as if they were always
on their way to somewhere else. It would have been lovely to observe
them a bit longer.
We did also see dwarf mongoose along a river bank, but that sighting
wasn't good enough for photos, and I had a rather fluky sighting of
slender mongoose which happened to run through my binocular view
while I was sitting in camp looking for a bird on the other side of
the river.
Black-backed jackals were reasonably common, but rather wary, until
we found a couple near the end of my stay that were much more
relaxed. We had one sighting side-striped jackal in the dusk. I got
some record photos, but that's all.
The big surprise was a Cape hare. We'd stopped to look at some birds.
After we'd done with that we realized that there was a hare in his
grassy nest close by, sitting very tight and not moving at all
(probably the only way of surviving during daytime). After I'd taken
some photos we left him in piece.
We did go out before sunrise, and came back after sunset, giving us
at least some chance of seeing more nocturnal critters, but none of
the vehicles are equipped with spotlights and I assume that
spotlighting isn't actually allowed. That limited what sightings we
might have had to those we could actually see. The lights on the
Landrovers didn't seem particularly strong either. Well, that's
something else to return to Africa for.
Andrea
1. Banded mongoose
2, 3. Black-backed jackal
4. Kirk's dikdik (the smallest antelope locally)
5. Cape hare
Attachments
kitefarrago
Well-known member
Rollers, kingfishers, bee-eaters, (wood) hoopoes
Now surely those are among everybody's favourites? Colourful birds,
not too shy for the most part, a joy to watch.
Just looking at them in the field guide is a pleasure, at least it is
for me, and despite the fact that there weren't many expected lifers
for me amongst this group I was very much looking forward to
reacquainting myself with them.
We found two species of roller, Lilac-breasted being so common that
even I, after a couple of days, would refer to a just identified
silhouette as `just another roller'. They are still lovely to look
at, and photos are likely to excite non-birders. Any bird that has
turquoise, lilac, green and a purplish blue in its plumage is bound
to have that effect.
Finding ones that will pose for photos is a different matter, though.
As you can see from my my third post on this thread we did manage
eventually, both for Lilac-breasted and Purple. We recorded the
latter on about one in four days, but because of the `ignore rollers'
effect setting in we may have encountered them more frequently. I had
thought we would have decent chances of finding Broad-billed Roller
as well, but this was not to be.
I had seven potential kingfishers on my checklist, and we saw five of
those. Malachite and Pied are relatively common. There were a number
of small waterholes and ponds, and so there seemed to be plenty of
habitat for them even away from the rivers. We didn't get good views
of Malachite although I was looking for an orange and blue bird to
turn into an African Pygmy Kingfisher I didn't manage to find one
(and we didn't see any orange and blue birds away from water).
Grey-headed Kingfisher was a bird that eluded us for a long time, and
then suddenly became almost daily during the end of my stay.
Similarly, Woodland Kingfisher was a bird we didn't find until a week
into my stay, and then we saw one on three days. Striped Kingfisher
was a one-off, in one of my favourite bits of woodland near
Governor's Camp. I kept wanting to stay there and my poor driver felt
we were intruding on the camp (although we couldn't actually see any
of the camp fixtures). The bird was being dive-bombed by a
Fork-tailed Drongo, but it refused to take much notice of this.
None of the kingfishers provided particularly good photographic
opportunities. All the sightings were at some distance and every time
we tried to creep closer they flew off. I wonder whether being able
to try on foot would have improved our chances here.
The only bee-eater we managed to find was Little. We had daily
sightings, and there was at least one bird whose territory included a
common picnic site along the Mara river (near the small marshy
patch), which was reasonably habituated. I spent much of one
breakfast stop trying to photograph it either taking off or landing,
but I just wasn't fast enough. All I managed were some orangey blurs.
I wasn't helped by the fact that it was impossible to predict which
direction it might fly in, and that it was starting from an almost
ground level perch. On one of my last days we had two birds together
in lovely light which have featured before, and which I can't stop
myself from showing again.
African Hoopoe is a bird we found on about one day in three, and
again this is a bird that allowed itself to be photographed. All our
sightings were at considerable distance, or through very heavy cover.
We only found one of the Wood Hoopoes in the form of Common
Scimitarbill, and that only once, a small group.
1. Lilac-breasted Roller
2. Pied Kingfisher
3. Grey-headed Kingfisher
4, 5. Little Bee-eater
Now surely those are among everybody's favourites? Colourful birds,
not too shy for the most part, a joy to watch.
Just looking at them in the field guide is a pleasure, at least it is
for me, and despite the fact that there weren't many expected lifers
for me amongst this group I was very much looking forward to
reacquainting myself with them.
We found two species of roller, Lilac-breasted being so common that
even I, after a couple of days, would refer to a just identified
silhouette as `just another roller'. They are still lovely to look
at, and photos are likely to excite non-birders. Any bird that has
turquoise, lilac, green and a purplish blue in its plumage is bound
to have that effect.
Finding ones that will pose for photos is a different matter, though.
As you can see from my my third post on this thread we did manage
eventually, both for Lilac-breasted and Purple. We recorded the
latter on about one in four days, but because of the `ignore rollers'
effect setting in we may have encountered them more frequently. I had
thought we would have decent chances of finding Broad-billed Roller
as well, but this was not to be.
I had seven potential kingfishers on my checklist, and we saw five of
those. Malachite and Pied are relatively common. There were a number
of small waterholes and ponds, and so there seemed to be plenty of
habitat for them even away from the rivers. We didn't get good views
of Malachite although I was looking for an orange and blue bird to
turn into an African Pygmy Kingfisher I didn't manage to find one
(and we didn't see any orange and blue birds away from water).
Grey-headed Kingfisher was a bird that eluded us for a long time, and
then suddenly became almost daily during the end of my stay.
Similarly, Woodland Kingfisher was a bird we didn't find until a week
into my stay, and then we saw one on three days. Striped Kingfisher
was a one-off, in one of my favourite bits of woodland near
Governor's Camp. I kept wanting to stay there and my poor driver felt
we were intruding on the camp (although we couldn't actually see any
of the camp fixtures). The bird was being dive-bombed by a
Fork-tailed Drongo, but it refused to take much notice of this.
None of the kingfishers provided particularly good photographic
opportunities. All the sightings were at some distance and every time
we tried to creep closer they flew off. I wonder whether being able
to try on foot would have improved our chances here.
The only bee-eater we managed to find was Little. We had daily
sightings, and there was at least one bird whose territory included a
common picnic site along the Mara river (near the small marshy
patch), which was reasonably habituated. I spent much of one
breakfast stop trying to photograph it either taking off or landing,
but I just wasn't fast enough. All I managed were some orangey blurs.
I wasn't helped by the fact that it was impossible to predict which
direction it might fly in, and that it was starting from an almost
ground level perch. On one of my last days we had two birds together
in lovely light which have featured before, and which I can't stop
myself from showing again.
African Hoopoe is a bird we found on about one day in three, and
again this is a bird that allowed itself to be photographed. All our
sightings were at considerable distance, or through very heavy cover.
We only found one of the Wood Hoopoes in the form of Common
Scimitarbill, and that only once, a small group.
1. Lilac-breasted Roller
2. Pied Kingfisher
3. Grey-headed Kingfisher
4, 5. Little Bee-eater
Attachments
kitefarrago
Well-known member
Owls, nightjars, hornbills, barbets
I was hoping that when sitting above the river near the camp fire we
would hear the odd owl, but even in the first week when it was dry at
night the only sound to be heard was that of the local frogs. Those
frogs are, in fact, remarkably musical and I really enjoyed the
concert they gave us every night. Apparently they were Hylarana
galamensis, or at least I've found a sound recording that seems just
right.
We did have an encounter with a large owl that was perched on a
termite mound and flew off as we approached, but it was still dark,
and there was no way of telling which owl it might have been.
Simon had taken us to another lovely bit of woodland one morning
where we were hoping for some passerines when we heard a call that I
wasn't sure about. Patient searching revealed a Verraux's Eagle Owl
roosting. We visited that woodland a again at different times of day
in the hope of finding new species (and that's where we saw our first
Wahlberg's Eagle), and the eagle owl was in residence each time. The
first time it didn't give good views because it was partially
obscured, but on one of our subsequent visits it was awake, trying to
bring up a pellet, and more in the open. We didn't push our luck too
much with moving in on it - the first day we had pushed it off its
perch and we didn't want to repeat that.
During our first week when it was dry at night we did have a few
nightjars fly off from where they had been sitting on the track as we
approached, but it was too dark to make out which species they might
have been. Possibly with a spotlight and slow driving it might be
possible to find some birds to look at. As we were trying to find a
secluded spot for a comfort break one day we did manage to scare up
a roosting bird which we saw in daylights, and which we both agreed
had to have been Sombre Nightjar.
Hornbills were another group that I had expected to see more of. In
Southern Africa they seemed to be fairly common in not dissimilar
habitat. Southern Ground hornbill we did have every other day, but
only once or twice close enough for photographs. African Grey we had
on three occasions, and the highlight was a Black-and-white-casqued
Hornbill that visited camp one day (well, it was perched in a bare
tree across the river). It flew off before I could get my camera from
the tent.
Barbets are another family that I had assumed to be more commonly
encountered. As it was we managed one sighting of Spot-flanked, and
one of D'Arnaud's. The latter bird was quite patient while I took
photos, if at some distance and under an overcast sky towards the end
of the day.
I didn't pick this destination for as a bird-watching one, and I hope
I don't sound as if I'm complaining! We managed 175 species (that we
did identify, if a handful of them from photos) which was a lot more
than I had expected.
Andrea
1, 2. Verraux's Eagle Owl
3. Southern Ground Hornbill
4, 5. D'Arnaud's Barbet
I was hoping that when sitting above the river near the camp fire we
would hear the odd owl, but even in the first week when it was dry at
night the only sound to be heard was that of the local frogs. Those
frogs are, in fact, remarkably musical and I really enjoyed the
concert they gave us every night. Apparently they were Hylarana
galamensis, or at least I've found a sound recording that seems just
right.
We did have an encounter with a large owl that was perched on a
termite mound and flew off as we approached, but it was still dark,
and there was no way of telling which owl it might have been.
Simon had taken us to another lovely bit of woodland one morning
where we were hoping for some passerines when we heard a call that I
wasn't sure about. Patient searching revealed a Verraux's Eagle Owl
roosting. We visited that woodland a again at different times of day
in the hope of finding new species (and that's where we saw our first
Wahlberg's Eagle), and the eagle owl was in residence each time. The
first time it didn't give good views because it was partially
obscured, but on one of our subsequent visits it was awake, trying to
bring up a pellet, and more in the open. We didn't push our luck too
much with moving in on it - the first day we had pushed it off its
perch and we didn't want to repeat that.
During our first week when it was dry at night we did have a few
nightjars fly off from where they had been sitting on the track as we
approached, but it was too dark to make out which species they might
have been. Possibly with a spotlight and slow driving it might be
possible to find some birds to look at. As we were trying to find a
secluded spot for a comfort break one day we did manage to scare up
a roosting bird which we saw in daylights, and which we both agreed
had to have been Sombre Nightjar.
Hornbills were another group that I had expected to see more of. In
Southern Africa they seemed to be fairly common in not dissimilar
habitat. Southern Ground hornbill we did have every other day, but
only once or twice close enough for photographs. African Grey we had
on three occasions, and the highlight was a Black-and-white-casqued
Hornbill that visited camp one day (well, it was perched in a bare
tree across the river). It flew off before I could get my camera from
the tent.
Barbets are another family that I had assumed to be more commonly
encountered. As it was we managed one sighting of Spot-flanked, and
one of D'Arnaud's. The latter bird was quite patient while I took
photos, if at some distance and under an overcast sky towards the end
of the day.
I didn't pick this destination for as a bird-watching one, and I hope
I don't sound as if I'm complaining! We managed 175 species (that we
did identify, if a handful of them from photos) which was a lot more
than I had expected.
Andrea
1, 2. Verraux's Eagle Owl
3. Southern Ground Hornbill
4, 5. D'Arnaud's Barbet
Attachments
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