Historical: Kenya November 2019

“I can’t believe we’re actually here!” I thought as our plane touched down at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya! We had been planning this vacation since early in the year to visit my aunt and uncle who live in Nakuru. Of course I was excited to be able to spend some time with extended family, but I was at least as excited (ok, maybe more. Sorry!) about all the awesome birds I would be able to see here, and our families planned Masai Mara safari! I had 356 species on my lifelist before the trip, and I was hoping/expecting to cross 500 at some point on this trip.

The first birds and first lifer I saw were a large flock of Little Swifts circling near the runway. As we taxied in I picked up 2 more lifers in African Palm Swift and Pied Crow. Then as we filled out forms near a window I got my first African Pied Wagtail and then two Rock Martins perched on a ledge on the side of the airport wall. Also had nonlifer Cattle Egrets, House Sparrows, and Black Kites.

Airport checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S61092217

We had a joyful reunion with my aunt and uncle and their young family then we got in the vehicle and started on our way to Nakuru. After about an hour we stopped at a Java House for lunch. We had a nice table in the open-air and had a good meal, but I was looking for any birds that could possibly be around. Had swifts again, a few “yellow-billed” Black Kites, and a few Pied Crows. Then we got two lifers: a nice looking Long-tailed Fiscal and 2 Kenya Rufous Sparrows. No photos of anything, but with those lifers I was now up to 362.

Checklist from Java House: https://ebird.org/checklist/S61092304

Then we got back in the vehicle bracing ourselves for the several hours of driving left. Along the way we got a few more lifers with Augur Buzzard, Superb Starling, African Sacred Ibis, Crowned Lapwing, Northern Ant-eater Chat, Hadada Ibis, and Speckled Pigeon. As well as a possible Fan-tailed Raven, which unfortunately I couldn’t confirm and didn’t see later in the trip, so no lifer. 😢 (I didn’t have checklists for these birds from the drive so my lifelist numbers will be low as these are slowly added on other checklists.) Also along the way we had some of our first nonbird wildlife with a few Zebra, Impala, and Grant’s (?) Gazelle.

We finally reached my aunt’s nice little house right outside Lake Nakuru NP around 5:30 PM. My brother and I waited (a bit impatiently) as we unloaded the van and took our bags into the house, but as soon as we could be grabbed our cameras and binos and headed out to do a bit of birding before dark. First bird as we stepped out of the door was a Black-winged Kite perched on the telephone pole directly in front of the house. (not a lifer as I’d seen them in Bangladesh a few times) A Superb Starling on the wire gave us our first good views of the species, and two circling Red-rumped Swallows were the first lifer.

Nic and I started walking along a small trail leading to a slightly rolling open area right next to the National Park. It was mainly just grassy with a few small bushes, but immediately inside the park fence was a track then a decent number of short trees (Sorry, I’m no good at dendrology and don’t know the species). This all looked like promising birding area for the days to come. Along the path we got our first Rattling Cisticola rattling away on a brushy tree in the only compound between us and the park. In the tops of the trees in the park we had a cool Green Woodhoopoe, and a small brown bird that puzzled us. After getting some help with the ID it turned out to be a Brown Parisoma. (Sorry for the upcoming poor quality photos. It was getting quite dark so these are barely even good enough for record shots, but gotta give you a taste of what we saw.)

On the wall of an empty compound was a female Northern Wheatear, then in the grass we found one of both African and Plain-backed Pipits.

Other lifers, once lighting got even worse, were a drab looking Scarlet-chested Sunbird, 2 Common Bulbuls, a Purple Grenadier, and a flyover Pin-tailed Whydah. 18 species in 40 minutes of subprime birding time wasn’t too bad and the 9 lifers were sure fun. I was already up to 376 and had nearly two weeks of lifers to come!

Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S61092652

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. If you enjoyed it please subscribe to my blog. Also please feel free to comment!