12th February 2007  Nairobi to Lake Magadi, via Olorgosailie

Today we headed out of Nairobi and into the Rift Valley. We did not reach our final destination, Lake Magadi until late afternoon, but in the interim period many road side stops yielded lots of birds. Unlike yesterday we were able to get out of our vehicle and bird on foot for prolonged periods and first stop of the morning not too far out of Nairobi proved productive with, Great Sparrowhawk, African Grey Flycatcher, Yellow Bishop, Banded Parisoma, Red-throated Tit, Sulphur-breasted Bush-shrike and Hildenbrand's Starling. Dropping into the Rift Valley, we were successful in locating Lyne's Cisticola, whilst also adding Little Rock Thrush and Brown Parisoma.

A brief roadside stop along side a school playing field yielded Temminck's Courser, Capped Wheatear, Grey-headed Sparrow, Fisher's Sparrow-weaver and our main target Short-tailed Lark. Other birds en route included Rufous Chatterer, Hunter's Sunbird, Mariko Sunbird, Green-winged Pytilia, Black-cheeked Waxbill, Somali Golden Bunting, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting, Schalow's Wheatear, Yellow-rumped Seedeater, African Citril, Red-and-yellow Barbet, Black-throated Barbet, several Jacobin Cuckoos, Great-spotted Cuckoo, Spotted Morning Thrush, Eurasian Roller, Lesser Kestrel, Grey-headed Kingfisher, African Hoopoe, White-bellied Go-away-bird, African Fire Finch, African Silverbill, Desert Cisticola and Ashy Cisticola. We also encountered a number of new weavers such as Grey-capped Social Weaver, Black-necked Weaver and Vitelline Masked Weaver along with both White-throated and Cinnamon-breasted Bee-eaters.

A flock of hundreds of circling Abdim's Storks was an impressive sight and upon reaching Lake Magadi birds on offer included African Spoonbill, White Pelican, Greater and Lesser Flamingos, Yellow-billed Stork, Gull-billed Tern, Grey-headed Gull, Chestnut-banded Plover, Ruff, Little Stint and Pied Avocet.

Heading back towards Nairobi we continued to pick up new birds such as Eurasian Rock Thrush, Steel-blue Whydahs and Pallid Harrier. We also managed to obtain flight views of a Red-chested Bustard during a walk through the bush, and on the mammal front, we had distant views of our first Zebra of the trip.

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