19th February 2007  Kakamega

Today saw the earliest start of the trip in an attempt to catch the best of the early morning forest birding. After an 05:30 breakfast we drove a few kilometres back down the forest track, parked up and spent the rest of the morning birding the forest edge. Although we encountered some inevitable quiet periods, overall we saw some excellent birds and even Edwin even managed to find himself a new bird, namely Red-bellied Paradise-flycatcher.

Other highlights included Grey-headed Negro-finch, Black-and-white Negro-finch, Little Grey Greenbul, Shelley's (Kakamega) Greenbul, Slender-billed Greenbul, Joyful Greenbul, Yellow-whiskered Greenbul, Red-headed Malimbe, Lühder's Bush-shrike, Bluebill, Black-collared Apalis, Buff-throated Apalis, Yellow-billed Barbet, Yellow-spotted Barbet, White-headed Saw-wing, Uganda Woodland Warbler, Banded Prinia, White-chinned Prinia, Dusky Tit, Olive-green Camaroptera, Yellow-bellied Hyliota, Turner's Eremomela, Dark-backed Weaver, Black-billed Weaver, Brown-headed Weaver and Chubb's Cisticola.

After returning to the Retreat for lunch we took a short siesta before venturing into the garden for superb views of up to nine Great Blue Turacos. Black-and-white Casqued Hornbill, Double-toothed Barbet and Grey-winged Robin also performed very well. We spent the final two hours of daylight along a track watching a number of small rain pools which attracted a regular succession of forest birds such as Equatorial Akalat, Brown-chested Alethe, Scaly-breasted Illadopsis, Blue-shouldered Robin Chat, African Dusky Flycatcher and Pale-throated Illadopsis.

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