Sunday, December 06, 2009

Kenya - Wednesday, Lake Nakuru - a wander after lunch

We headed across the Lake to Peter who was waiting for us by the jetty. Back on the main land, before we boarded the bus/van, we spotted a Fork-tailed Drongo, perched in the tree Peter had used to shade the vehicle:



So next stop, Lake Nakuru National Park, which promised to be a different experience again. On the way to our hotel, once in the park, we spotted a Lion enjoying a late morning snooze by the side of the road:



We decided to have a mooch about before and after lunch, exploring the campsite, and to enjoy the view:



First-up a White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher:



Then a female Northern Puffback:



Followed by a male:



In the distance a Great White Pelican, too far for a decent picture, but we have a record shot. Then a Baglafecht Weaver, the same species as at Sweetwater (note also the dripping tap in the gardens, literally a few hundred yards away from this animals were dying from the drought):



A Grey-backed Camaroptera:



A different Weaver species again, this time a Speke’s Weaver:



We’re still not sure if this is a Yellow Bishop or a Yellow-mantled Widowbird (sp. Macrocerus). The bird isn’t yellow enough for the former and its tail doesn’t look long enough for the latter, but my money is on the latter, a Yellow-mantled Widowbird:



This is a White-browed Robin-Chat:



We were told it was a Ruppell’s but I think the tail feather colours are for the more common bird.

The camp is a bit like a prison, with an electric fence surrounding it (not sure whether that’s to keep the animals out or the people in). At the top edge of the fence, in amongst rough ground where no one had been for a few days or so (by the looks of it) we hit birding gold. First a Purple Grenadier, really close:



In the same spot, a Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu:



A Yellow-bellied Waxbill:



We suspect this is an immature White-browed Robin Chat:



A Tropical Boubou, these birds have a really quite eerie contact call:



Some of the birds are quire hard to pick-out as they move quickly through the trees with camouflage plumage; this proved to be a spotted form of the Yellow-breasted Apalis:



A female Purple Grenadier:

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