12h birding rampage at Nairobi National Park

 Just before summer, I scrounged up just barely enough to buy a 2004 Nissan Xtrail. 

My ticket to freedom. 

The first thing I wanted to do upon return from summer holidays was to take it out with some friends. My new Nature Kenya friends Adrian and Getrude answered the call. We aimed to bird from 6am to 6pm, which are the park hours, but it ended up being 6:20am to 6:30pm. 

The biggest challenge of birding this park is getting one's arse out of bed at an ungodly 4:45am and getting to the park without making any wrong turns. This time it went very smoothly, unlike last time. We entered the park and started by scanning the plains near Ngoloman dam for cheetahs. We observed a very strange mating dance from a some Ostrich. 

While filming the ostrich, Adrien picked out the song of a Siffling Cisticola aka Short-winged Cisticola (not sure why - all cisticolas have equally short wings). This was one of those lifers that is common but I just haven't seen or identified for whatever reason (probably because I didn't know the call). We got great looks at a handful of them. 

The main visual field mark of the Siffling Cisticola is it's lack of field marks

Some rangers stopped to check our receipt and gave us a time on some lions between posts 4 and 5. We duly proceeded there to find an mfalme with 2 females. The growing car jam prompted us to continue on our journey through the park. Soon after, a solitary francolin crossed the road. Raising my binoculars, I was ecstatic to behold a Shelley's Francolin, my ultimate Nairobi nemesis. Two lifers in the first hour of the day, not bad!

"Can you feeeel the loooove tonight....."

Hartlaub's or Black-bellied?

A little further, we scanned an area of dense bushes with our bins and spotted a female rhino with a large young running away. We figured them to be Black Rhinos based on the habitat and skittish behaviour. White Rhinos were spotted throughout the day, always out in the open. We drove through alto of black cotton soil looking for larks, but with no luck. While checking a pond for possible squacco herons, we noticed a group of Hartbeest all facing the same direction. Their intent focus betrayed the presence of a lone female lion. We triangulated and drove to a spot where we figured she was headed to. She appeared on the track we were parked on and walked right past the car, then disappeared into an area of whistling thorn acacias. 

Checking for Short-tailed Larks at Hyeena dam (spotted 3 weeks ago), a land cruiser pulled up beside us and an arm reached out and grabbed me. It was my old friend Kelvin Gichuki guiding for Mufasa Tours. We had a very leisurely catch up and bird sightings conversation while his clients waited in the back of the cruiser. We parted ways, and headed to the huge reservoir on the far side of the park with all the Marabou Storks, a nice spot for lunch. We ate cold sandwiches and pizza while spotting birds, hippos and crocodiles. Getrude was quite cold by this point and needed to wear my sweater on top of her hoodie, whilst I was content in my t-shirt. Continuing our birding, Adrian picked out the call of a Scaly-throated Honeyguide in a tiny patch of yellowbark acacias on the lake edge. We photographed a strange-looking Black Kite that looked more like a Black-eared Kite (the Asian subspecies). A Lanner Falcon blazed past and Adrian expertly spotted two Spotted Thick-knees in the grass. 

The strange-looking Kite

From there, the logical part of the park to explore was the acacia forest along the Athi River. The livestock crossing over to the park to graze was a bit of a bummer to see. Also sad was the extend of degradation on the non-park side of the Athi River, where the bank has been denuded of all vegetation to speak of and rendered a bank of dusty, hoof-packed dirt. The river was a sad trickle of eutrophicated green water due to the amount of cows defiling all along its extent, but for a small stretch by the hippo pools. 

The acacia forest was awesome. We had probably 10 species in a mixed flock, including 3 woodpecker species and some Red-throated Tits (Kenya lifer for me). Sulfur-breasted Bush-shrikes brought a splash of colour to the cold and gloomy day. Abyssinian Scimitarbills were also of note. Leaving the woodland, we spotted a group of Mountain Reedbuck on a ridge. I had no idea they were found in Nairobi National Park. 

Mountain Reedbucks

Proceeding to the Hippo Pools, we tried our luck for Finfoot, but I've never been lucky at this spot (maybe early in the morning?). We decided to walk on the non-park side of the river this time, with the company of a ranger. It payed off when Adrian found a Pygmy Kingfisher, a pretty good bird for Nairobi. He also spotted a Wahlberg's Honeybird in the parking lot. Despite the habitat being severely degraded by livestock activity, Adrian revealed that we had seen 71 species on this short walk. A bit ridiculous. 

By this point, Getrude was getting anxious that she would be late to meet her friend at the park gate on time. We were aiming for 6pm, but it looked more like it would be 6:15pm. We were waylaid by a Shelley's Francolin calling from the side of the road, forcing us to stop and capture it in our bazookas. It was counter-singing with another one quite aggressively. 

Driving further toward the gate, we were stopped in our tracks yet again by a car-jam. There was a group of 11 lions lying beside the road. We couldn't really see them very well, but then they started walking toward us and crossed our vehicle on both sides. There seemed to be 3 generations of cubs all in one pride. One full-sized female walked right past my open driver window. Getrude was getting visibly distressed about being late to meet her friend by this point. "Well, no way to get around these cars, might as well enjoy the lions," I said. After the lions passed us, the cars dispersed, clearing a path for our exodus. Then a Bat Hawk circled over us. It was about 6:30 by the time we got out. One of the most epic safari days I've had. 

Bat Hawk! A perfect ending to the day