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Less than a month ago 10,000 Birds launched a fund-raising project aimed at providing funding - in the form of the “Small African Fellowship for Conservation” (SAFC) - to a young Kenyan called Dominic Kamau Kimani who comes from the Kinangop Plateau near Nairobi. The Kinangop Plateau is the core area of the Endangered and [...]

Our campaign (in partnership with the National Musems of Kenya) to raise funds for the “Small African Fellowship for Conservation” - in essence to support the admirable Dominic Kamau Kamani in his struggle to promote awareness amongst his own community of the threats facing the Endangered Sharpe’s Longclaw - is going very well, thanks to [...]

African Dusky Flycatcher Muscicapa adusta
Aberdare Mountains, Kenya. July 2008
 
The African Dusky Flycatcher (or just Dusky Flycatcher) is an African endemic found mainly in the east of the continent from the Ethiopian highlands south to the Cape, extending West to Angola: its distribution in Kenya marks the eastern most extent of its range.

A common highland species, [...]

Sharpe’s Longclaw Macronyx sharpei
Magumu (north of Nairobi), Kenya. June 2008
 
Occasionally I get a ’sharp’ reminder that while I’m flying around the world having a great time and building up a reasonable year-list, some of the very birds that I’m fortunate enough to go looking for are declining rapidly and are seemingly heading unstoppably towards [...]

Kenya is not really a place to visit just for one day, but that’s all I had last week , and I’m glad to say I made the most of it. I managed to get some really interesting photos as well - including the ones below…

I was guided in Nairobi by Shailesh Patel and George [...]

Purple Grenadier Uraeginthus Ianthinogaster
Nairobi, Kenya

The Purple Grenadier Uraeginthus Ianthinogaster, found in subtropical and tropical dry shrubland in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, is a beautiful waxbill, closely related to the equally gorgeous Violet-eared Waxbill of southern Africa. Locally common in Kenya, it’s predominantly a bird of the highlands so is mostly absent from [...]

Mountain Wagtail Motacilla clara
Nairobi, April 2008

Locally common throughout a large range that takes in substantial areas of sub-Saharan Africa, the Mountain (or Long-tailed) Wagtail is usually described as a species of fast-flowing forest streams, though I’ve personally seen the species in a virtually dry stream-bed in Kenya, and on a fast-flowing stream with virtually no [...]

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 [...]

Superb Starling Lamprotornis superbus
Uhuru Park, Nairobi, Kenya, November 2006

Endemic to NE Africa, the aptly-named Superb Starlings are abundant across parts of their huge range and are commonly found in parks and gardens as well as in less urban settings. These were all photographed (except for the last bird) in Nairobi’s crowded, city-centre Uhuru Park and [...]

Pied Crow Corvus albus
Nairobi, Kenya. June 2005 and November 2006

The Pied Crow is Africa’s most widespread corvid, occuring from Sub-Saharan Africa down to the Cape of Good Hope (though it’s absent from the tropical rainforest regions) and also the islands of Madagascar, the Comoros, Aldabra, Zanzibar, Pemba and Fernando Po. It inhabits mainly open country [...]

White-browed Sparrow-weaver Plocepasser mahali
Uhuru Park, Nairobi, Kenya, November 2006

A large, chunky and aptly-named sparrow-like weaver, the White-browed Sparrow-weaver is an African endemic found in dry, acacia habitat from Somalia to South Africa. The birds usually occur in noisy groups, building very ragged, untidy roosting and breeding nests that typically look like they’ve been half-destroyed [...]

Dusky Turtle Dove Streptopelia lugens
Nairobi, Kenya, November 2006

 
All photos copyright Charlie Moores
 

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, NairobiNovember 06 2006
 
I’ve been to Kenya many times over the last seventeen years, but - despite it being just 16km from the hotel - I’d never visited what crew familiarly call “The Elephant Orphanage” run by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust on one edge of the nearby Nairobi National [...]

Little Bee-eater Merops pusillus
Nairobi, Kenya. June 2006
 
The Little Bee-eater is a locally common resident in the highlands of East Africa (Nairobi is situated at 1660 metres (5450 feet) above sea level), south to Malawi and Zambia. It occurs in highland forest, forest margins, and scrub: in Nairobi the Little Bee-eater is a familiar bird in [...]

White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher Melaenornis fischeri Nairobi, Kenya. January 2004 and June 2006

A locally common resident in the highlands of East Africa (Nairobi is situated at 1660 metres (5450 feet) above sea level.), south to Malawi and Zambia. Occurs in highland forest, forest margins, and scrub: in Nairobi it is a familiar bird in gardens and [...]

Nairobi, Kenya
10 June 2006

Kenya covers an area of 582,646 square kilometres. The land stretches from the sea level (Indian Ocean) in the east, to 5,199 meters at the peak of the snow-capped Mount Kenya. From the coast, the altitude changes gradually through the coastal belt and plains (below 152 metres above sea level), the [...]

Cape Robin Cossypha caffra
Nairobi, Kenya

The Cape Robin is a widespread species, found from East Africa down to the core of its breeding range in South Africa. Named for its “resemblance” (ie it has a reddish breast and a pleasant song) to the European Robin Erithacus rubecula by settlers, the species inhabits most types of scrub [...]

Little Swifts Apus affinis
Nairobi, Kenya 02 June 2005
 
The following photographs were taken from the roof of the Intercontinental Hotel, Nairobi in the late afternoon as a group of about one hundred Little Swifts hawked over the centre of the city in the company of Yellow-billed Kites and Pied Crows.

The race breeding throughout much of Africa [...]

Nairobi, Kenya, June 2005

It’s almost six months to the day since I started blogging. It’s quite amazing really how fast time has flown by. Not just time: I’ve already flown to North America seven or eight times times, to the Middle East five times, to India, Mexico, Brazil, Hong Kong twice, and to Africa three [...]

Langata Nature Centre (Giraffe Centre), Karen, Nairobi
24 April 2005

 
One day’s birding in Kenya - one WHOLE day in a country with a list of about 800, unforgettable birding highlights, a huge range of habitats and scenery…it was always going to be a little frustrating…

However, I’m not someone who dwells on what they’re NOT going to [...]