Kenya Birds & Wildlife Oct 28—Nov 15, 2011
Posted by David Wolf
David Wolf
David Wolf is a senior member of the VENT staff and one of our most experienced tour leaders. After birding the U.S. and Mexico for over a decade, an interest in the wildli...Related Trips
Almost every November for the last thirty years has found me in Kenya, but it still amazes me how different each safari has been. Upon arrival this year we found that the "short rains" had begun almost a month earlier than expected, and that the land had quickly started to rejuvenate from the drought earlier in the year, turning emerald-green and bountiful. The birds had responded too, many of them changing into brilliant plumage and beginning a new breeding season with bursts of song and display. With water and forage widely available, the mammals had dispersed far and wide, many of them with babies. To see the land so fecund is a rare treat—and the mantra of this group soon became, "You don't know how lucky you are."
No group of birds typifies Africa more than the weavers and their relatives, and on this safari we saw almost every one possible. Most of the 113 species in this family are African and they are conspicuous in almost every environment on the continent. All are characterized by building covered nests, some in great colonies and others in solitary pairs or small groups. Their nests vary tremendously in form and placement, but there is one common thread: they are classic "rains" breeders, waiting to nest until seeds and insects are abundant. For us this meant that we got to see and watch them often, in their finest plumages, because of the lushness of the season. We were introduced to the family by the colonial Speke's Weavers at the hotel in Nairobi, their sloppy nests crammed together amidst the thorny acacia branches. These males are compulsive builders, each starting another nest as soon as one is completed. The catch is that it's "ladies choice." When a female sneaks into the colony to inspect potential nests, the males burst into a ridiculous cacophony of scratchy calls and wing-fluttering, as if to say, "come look at mine, look at mine," but only if the female finds a nest to her liking does the male get to mate with her. Then he's back to work on another one, in hopes of attracting another female.
It wasn't long into the trip before we got to watch other species with different breeding systems. Along streams in the highlands we found a solitary male Holub's Golden-Weaver placing his nests in a well-protected bush overhanging the water, while the African Golden-Weavers had their nests scattered through the reeds, initially starting the building process with a simple ring of tightly-woven strips of marsh grass. In Samburu weavers seemed to be everywhere, the picturesque acacias dripping with the neat pouches of the Black-capped Social-Weavers at the tips of the branches and the untidy round balls of the sparrow-weavers protected within the thorny twigs. A brilliant male Red-headed Weaver high up in a riverbank tree worked on a nest with a long tubular spout, the entrance on the bottom for safety, while a lone male Vitelline Masked-Weaver had several tidy onion-shaped nests suspended in the dense brush.
At Baringo a noisy colony of big White-billed Buffalo-Weavers seemed to spend the entire day working on their huge communal nests of large sticks, a single one several feet in length and with up to 10 chambers. On our boat trip here we thrilled to male Orange and Yellow-crowned bishops in glorious plumage turning into colorful fluffballs as they gave their buzzy display flights, a rare treat. Most of the year these birds simply look like tiny brown sparrows and disappear unidentified amidst the hordes of other "non-breeding ploceids" that are nearly impossible to identify. In the Kakamega rainforest the weavers were more solitary and less conspicuous, but here we watched a stunning Red-headed Malimbe preening in the high canopy, a pair of Forest Weavers quietly building in the midstory, and a sneaky Black-billed Weaver carrying material into a dense thicket. Indeed we were very lucky.
Another outstanding group this year was the raptors, likely for the same reason: an abundance of food. As predators they are at the top of the food chain, and when prey is scarce we simply don't see as many of them. This year brought an abundance of quality sightings. Our run of luck began with a huge Crowned Eagle sitting in an emergent tree at the Mountain Lodge waterhole shortly after dawn, as we admired Mount Kenya's silhouette looming above us. This forest bird is considered the most powerful raptor in Africa, and the baboons roosting nearby were clearly terrified, while a juvenile Black Goshawk nearby was dwarfed by the giant eagle. In Samburu we saw and photographed a seemingly endless parade of large eagles, from a perched pair of uncommon African Hawk-Eagles to the distinctive Bateleurs to great comparisons of the resident Tawny versus migrant Steppe Eagles. And then there was the Martial Eagle adult that just sat and sat for us, a fearsome bird with a huge beak and talons, capable of taking prey the size of a small antelope. Nearby we found the other extreme, a tiny Pygmy Falcon competing with the shrikes for insects and small lizards. Even as we left the reserve on our final morning we found yet another specialized raptor, a calm Brown Snake-Eagle sitting right beside the road.
Working our way across the short-grass plains at Naro Moru produced close looks at the scarce Greater Kestrel, while a pair of uniquely African Secretary-birds dashed across the track in front of us. Then, at our scenic stop at Thomson's Falls, a rare resident Peregrine landed in a niche in the cliff, while a Mountain Buzzard circled in front of us at eye level. Around the Rift Valley lakes the joyous yelping of the African Fish-Eagle was a typical sound, while the comical Long-crested Eagles always brought a smile to our faces. A magnificent Verreaux's Eagle slowly working the cliffs at Lake Baringo was clearly upsetting the local Lanner Falcon and Shikras as it searched for hyrax, its main prey item.
On our drive across the Kerio Valley the clouds were hanging low, but as we searched for songbird specialties, a flight of migrant raptors slowly began circling up, giving us great looks at 15+ normally rare European Honey-Buzzards amidst the more numerous Common Buzzards. Very puzzling were the 6 accipiters slowly kettling with them, but careful study revealed them to be Levant Sparrowhawks, a highly-migratory species that enters northeastern Africa in large numbers and then seems to disappear. They have very rarely been found as far south as Kenya, and this may be the first report of multiple individuals!
And then there were all those raptors in the Mara, like the colorful White-headed Vulture that appeared from nowhere to steal a prey item from a pair of ground-hornbills, the nesting Wahlberg's Eagles seen daily near camp, the pair of elegant Gray Kestrels at sunset, and the dashing Ovampo Sparrowhawk that almost nailed a longclaw right in front of us. All of these were seen amidst the backdrop of a fantastic variety of other sights, from birds and mammals to scenery and interesting cultures.
Every region visited on this varied itinerary yielded many more highlights, too numerous to list here, but all contributed to a very successful safari. It was a pleasure sharing it with you. Much of our success was due to the incredible skills and patience of our driver-guides, Bernard Koinange for the main safari, and Sammy in the Masai Mara, and to them we extend a special "thank you."