I’m back home after a quick visit to Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city. No doubt on reading that I’ve just been to Kenya, some readers will assume that - as I’ve already been to Japan, Florida, and northern India this year - my Big Year list must be somewhere over 1000 by now. If only it were so: it’s just over 300, which is about half what a tour to Kenya could find in a fortnight. How so? I may have been to all these places, but I didn’t stay long in any of them, and I’ve just worked out that in the first 25 days of January I’ve actually only spent about 70 hours in the field! That’s just five and a bit days, probably less than many birders reading this now. They’ve been a very interesting five and a bit days of course, but rather bizarrely I’ve spent almost the same amount of time on aeroplanes (and almost the same amount of time staring out of the window at home wondering if it will ever stop raining).

Such is the vagaries of birding when you work for an airline though. There’s an awful lot of commuting and travel, plenty of waiting around for hotel buses and the like, and a whole heap of trying to sleep at all the wrong times. There’s also the small matter of promising your partner that you won’t go exploring in Kenya because she’s worried that you might become an unwelcome statistic in the trouble caused by yet another flawed Kenyan election - this time between incumbent (and eventual ‘winner’) President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga. She had reasons to be concerned. By early January over 600 people had already died, the slums around Nairobi had been torched a number of times, and the international media were full of reports of violence, human rights abuses, and massive vote-rigging which was causing huge amounts of civil unrest (on the flight out itself I was reading a report in “The Independent” (it was a quiet flight as most tourists are avoiding Kenya and going somewhere peaceful like Iraq) which stated that in one constituency Mr Odinga had polled 100.5% of valid votes and that in Maragwa, a constituency solidly supporting Mr Kibaki, turnout had been a remarkable 115%). No wonder Kenyans were hacked off…

Anyone planning a Big Year of any sort - half-hearted, serious, or seriously serious - will have to contend with circumstances that cause a change to plans or force you to take the odd risk, but wondering if you might get shot by a trigger-happy Kenyan wound up by his country’s interminably corrupt politicians is, I think you’ll agree, quite a stumbling-block. Hence - and bearing in mind my anxious spouse - rather than going flat out and racing around Nairobi’s hotspots I chose a soft (and sensibly safe) option and spent most of the day at a site I’ve visited (and written about) twice before - the AFEW Nature Sanctuary in Langata, a quiet and well-laid out little bird reserve attached to the Langata Giraffe Centre, just 10km from the city centre and watched over by armed guards.

The sanctuary itself is little more than a small patch of dense woodland that follows the almost dried-up bed of a narrow river, close to Nairobi National Park. Rather surprisingly though it does hold some very interesting birds - both times I’ve been before I’ve seen White-starred Robin, Hartlaub’s Touraco, and Black-throated Wattle-eye amongst others. Even though the reserve itself doesn’t open until 09:00 it’s still worth getting there early, because there is plenty of good birding to be had by walking outside AFEW along the left-hand boundary fence on a wide, well-used track. Unfortunately on this trip at 09:00 I was still waiting for a couple of my colleagues who had forgotten we were meeting up and had left to play golf at 08:00 without letting me know (remarkably they did remember to phone a very pretty 26 year old I was working with and ask her if she wanted to go with them…go figure.)

Oh well, not the best start to the day, but at least I’d spent an hour standing at the (very dirty) hotel window between 08:00 and 09:00 and had had great (but distorted) views of a large flock of Red-winged and Superb Starlings which was using the hotel as a temporary roost (along with two African Pied Wagtails) - birds I didn’t see again that day. (The hotel we’re temporarily staying at, incidentally, looks over the busy Mombasa Road towards Nairobi National Park, and I could also see distant Giraffes, Zebra, and Gazelle - and a Black-winged Kite: I may have wasted a few hours waiting for my priapic ‘friends’ but at least I saw something worthwhile…).

It did mean though that by the time I got to AFEW the morning chorus was long over, and the sun high in the sky. The reserve was worryingly quiet by the time I hit the trail through the bush, but the first of at least four White-starred Robins cheered me up considerably, and by the time I’d spent a few hours wandering up and down I’d found most of the birds I’d hoped for (eg Tambourine Dove, a skittish Mountain Wagtail, a pair of foraging Black-throated Wattle-eyes, an always striking male African Paradise Flycatcher, Cape Robin-chat, what I thought were possibly Northern Brownbul but were in fact brownish-looking Cabanis’s Greenbuls, and Grey-backed Camaroptera), plus some bonuses in the form of a pair of roosting Verraux’s Eagle Owls (gorgeous grey owls the size of big dogs with strikingly pink eye-lids which they flutter coquettishly), a Yellow-whiskered Greenbul, and my first Rattling Cisticola (in the grassland behind the valley) for about fifteen years.

White-starred Robin Pogonocichla stellata

Black-throated Wattle-eye Platysteira peltata

Cabanis’s Greenbul Phyllastrephus cabanisi

Cape Robin-chat Cossypha caffra

Mountain Wagtail Motacilla clara

male African Paradise-flycatcher Terpsiphone viridis

Verreaux’s Eagle-owl Bubo lacteus

I emerged out of AFEW at about 14:00 and gobbled down a fried egg and a bottle of coke while I waited for the hotel taxi to turn up (I know how to look after the temple that is my body eh?). I figured I’d really given the site a good working over (AFEW is contiguous with some good habitat and local birds do move up and down within it so in theory other species could turn up at some point of course) and wanted to try another area ‘just in case’ (we birders always figure that the grass is greener somewhere else, and if not ‘better’ then ‘different’ will do). I was still musing when the driver arrived and said that he’d often taken people to the new Safari Walk in Nairobi NP. It was completely safe - though he blamed “outsiders” for the troubles and felt everywhere was safe anyway - and had what he described as a “trail into the forest”. It wasn’t going to be quite the same as going to Nakuru or Naivasha (a few hours away and two areas I’d asssured Jo I wouldn’t visit this time around), but needs must, and with only a few hours of daylight left I figured I’d give it a try.

The entrance fee to Nairobi NP is now a rather steep 40USD (for non-residents), but the Safari Walk while inside the walls of the Park is not actually designated as part of it and the entrance fee is a more affordable 10USD. What the hey, I thought, handed over the money and walked inside (seeing my first Grosbeak Weavers in the reeds round the little pond by the entance kiosk). First impressions was that I’d paid to get into a zoo, but - should you find yourself in the same position - there is actually a very nice boardwalk going down to a shallow waterhole (on this occasion with a bathing Hammerkop and four distant European Bee-eaters), and beyond the “Weather Station” there is access to a short circular trail through some quite mature forest. Almost straight away I hit a small feeding flock which included three African Paradise Flycatchers, a Northern Puffback, a White-bellied Tit, and a stunning Orange-breasted (Sulphur-breasted) Bush-shrike (a reasonably common enough bird but one that usually skulks in deep cover rather than perching in the open bashing the life out of an unfortunate insect!). Well worth 10USD.

Orange-breasted Bush Shrike Telophorus sulfureopectus

Female African Paradise-flycatcher Terpsiphone viridis

The circular trail can be covered in about 20 minutes, and the whole “Safari Walk” in less than an hour if you’re not dawdling, but there are other birds here worth seeing: I found a lovely female Purple Grenadier feeding on grass seeds, for example, and a small party of Cinammon-breasted Bee-eaters in a more open area. Garden birds like Olive Thrushes (often split as Mountain Thrush), Red-eyed Doves, and Bronze Mannikins are unmissable here too - and I dare say that if you had absolutely nowhere else to go (or were on a first ever birding visit to Nairobi and wanted to acclimatise for a few hours before heading off into the wilds) you’d probably find a lot more to interest you.

Cinammon-breasted Bee-eater Merops oreobates

Purple Grenadier Uraeginthus ianthinogaster

By the time I left the safari walk area it was getting on for 16:30 and the sun was starting to dip towards the acacia scrub. With the flight back to the UK in just five hours time (and a rather pressing need to scrub the sweat off) I thought it was time to head back to the hotel. I still had one more area to try en-route though: a dirt-road “by-pass” that avoided Nairobi city centre and followed the boundary fence of the NP. With a little luck I could perhaps see a Spurfowl or a Bustard in the Park…?

I’ve a feeling that if one were to drive up and down this road on a regular basis you’d probably amass a fair list by peering into the NP, but on this occasion the decent birds were on the non-NP side: namely a Pale Flycatcher sitting on the fence of a popular resort called “Splash”, and a number of European migrants including a female Pied Wheatear, two Northern Wheatears, and a Western Yellow Wagtail running around the grass just outside a small village with my only African/Grassveld Pipits of the day. A worthwhile detour even if my taxi driver decided that he’d add a little surcharge for coming off the main road (even though, as I pointed out, the by-pass was shorter than going the usual way - moral of the story: take more money with you than you think you’ll need).

I was back at the hotel within 30 minutes and in the bath just ten minutes after that (followed by a very deep sleep for two hours!). Regular Nairobi-birders probably won’t find too much of interest in the above account, but I had a great time, added almost 60 species to the Big Year list, and - more importantly according to a relieved Jo - I was still in one piece. As I said at the outset, it’s been an interesting five and a bit days, and with a trip to Los Angeles on monday (tomorrow), January isn’t over yet by any means…

Day List:
Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis 3-4; Black-headed Heron Ardea melanocephala 1; Hammerkop Scopus umbretta 1; Marabou Stork Leptoptilos crumeniferus 3; Sacred Ibis Threskiornis aethiopicus 5; Hadada Ibis Bostrychia hagedash 4; (Yellow-billed) Black Kite Milvus migrans parasitus 10+; Western Steppe Buzzard Buteo buteo vulpinus 1; Black-shouldered kite Elanus caerulus 1; Speckled Pigeon Columba guinea 4-5; Red-eyed Dove Streptopelia semitorquata c)10; Ring-necked Dove Streptopelia capicola 1; Tambourine Dove Turtur tympanistria 1+; Red-chested Cuckoo Cuculus solitarius 1; Verreaux’s Eagle-owl Bubo lacteus 2; African Palm Swift Cypsiurus parvus 2; Little Swift Apus affinis 10+; Speckled Mousebird Colius striatus 6; Cinammon-breasted Bee-eater Merops oreobates 4; European Bee-eater Merops apiaster 4; Rock Martin Ptyonoprogne fuligula 4-5; Lesser Striped-swallow Hirundo abyssinica 4-5; African Pied Wagtail Motacilla aguimp 2; Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava 1; Mountain Wagtail Motacilla clara 1; African/Grassveld Pipit Anthus cinnamomeus 2; Common Bulbul Pycnonotus barbatus 20+; Yellow-whiskered Greenbul Andropadus latirostris 1 (2?); Cabanis’s Greenbul Phyllastrephus cabanisi 6-8; Olive Thrush Turdus olivaceus 2; Singing Cisticola Cisticola cantans 2; Rattling Cisticola Cisticola chiniana 1; Yellow-breasted Apalis Apalis flavida 1; Grey-backed Camaroptera Camaroptera brevicaudata 4-5; Pale Flycatcher Bradornis pallidus 1; White-starred Robin Pogonocichla stellata 3-4; Cape Robin-chat Cossypha caffra 2-3; Ruppell’s Robin-chat Cossypha semirufa 1+; Northern Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe 2; Pied Wheatear Oenanthe pleschanka 1; Black-throated Wattle-eye Platysteira peltata 3; African Paradise-flycatcher Terpsiphone viridis 3; Northern Pied Babbler Turdoides hypoleucus 1; White-bellied Tit Parus albiventris 1; Bronze Sunbird Nectarinia kilimensis 3; Variable Sunbird Cinnyris venustus 10+; Broad-ringed (Montane) White-eye Zosterops poliogastrus 5; Grey-backed Fiscal Lanius excubitoroides 1; Common Fiscal Lanius collaris 4; Black-backed Puffback Dryoscopus cubla 2; Orange-breasted Bush Shrike Telophorus sulfureopectus 1; Pied Crow Corvus albus 20+; Superb Starling Lamprotornis superbus 10+; Red-winged Starling Onychognathus morio c)10; House Sparrow Passer domesticus 30+; Kenya Rufous Sparrow Passer rufocinctus 20+; White-browed Sparrow-weaver Plocepasser mahali 3-4; Speke’s Weaver Ploceus spekei 3+; Grosbeak Weaver Amblyospiza albifrons 2; Red-billed Firefinch Lagonosticta senegala 10+; Purple Grenadier Uraeginthus ianthinogaster 1; Bronze Mannikin Spermestes cucullata 10+; Pin-tailed Whydah Vidua macroura 1; Streaky Seedeater Serinus striolatus 1

New for the Year: 58
Life Birds: 0
Total for the Year: 305

Should you be interested the full Year List is at “Old Friends, New Friends World Tour 2008″ Year List