The Ground Squirrels have found the bird table (above). You may think this is no major feat but in fact it’s quite cunning of them, for in order to get there, the squirrels have to make their way up the ramp that leads from the garden, through our front door and out to our balcony (on the first floor), and then circumnavigate the lounge…all in pursuit of the odd tasty morsel intended for the birds (but not begrudged by us, I have to admit, for we like having the squirrels there too.) There’s only one way in and one way out for the squirrels, and so they are still quite nervous while they’re at the bird table…this one even looks rather guilty as it hurriedly gnaws on a peanut:

The ensemble of maize, peanuts, millet and sunflower seeds that I put down outside the kitchen for the doves et al, is attracting quite a crowd. There were six Ground Squirrels there today, plus a few Tree Squirrels, dozens of Sparrows, Doves of varying descriptions, and the Dikdiks too, timid and alert in the late evening (above).

Does anyone else find it surprising that the Red-billed Hornbills like maize (or corn, as it would be known in the States)? Since when were they seed-eating birds? (Obviously longer than I have known about it!) I've noticed that even the Glossy Starlings are feeding on the maize, which I also find surprising.

Our Green-backed Heron (below) is making his presence felt again, after a period of reticence. I can’t quite decide whether he is more comical than handsome, or vice versa, but he has a good stab at both, I think!

The Spur-winged Plovers are never content, are they? Today they were bickering amongst themselves, chasing each other up and down the river…but they do make a pretty picture in flight…

The Quelea are starting to come to the river in bigger and bigger flocks now, swooping down to drink on the wing. These weaverbirds congregate in flocks of several million each at certain times of the year. This evening it was late when they reached the river, but this silhouette shows just a tiny number that passed by in the fading light:

I’m afraid that our geese have another loss to report…this tale is rather a tough one to follow, for as we celebrate the growing up of the goslings, we also have to face the fact that not all of them are going to survive… First there were twelve, now there are ten (seen here with their parents and a Hadada Ibis.) The juvenile, but nonetheless huge, Martial Eagle was here today - I wouldn't mind betting it has accounted for one or both of the lost goslings, and if the survivors are not careful, it won't stop there...

For those of you who might be interested, I was recently interviewed by Expat Women, a website for...you guessed it...expat women. It's a site set up to help women living in different countries around the world, and each month they do several special features on interesting or successful women. While I'm not strictly speaking an expat here in Kenya, I have lived in a few countries as an expat and, I think you'll all agree, currently live an unusual life in an extraordinary place. Read my interview here...

The geese are faring fairly well, with eleven goslings still in tow (above). One casualty so far is sad but not bad going, considering how many contenders there are for gosling-guzzlers in this part of the world!

More new birds seem to be discovering our birdbath…including a Yellow Spotted Petronia, above (which is a type of sparrow, and is common in Tsavo) and the strange stub-tailed Northern Crombec which is now visiting our little acacia tree by the birdbath to forage for tiny insects along its branches (below).

Sandpipers are on the river again, back from their travels to Europe, the first of the migrants to return.

Remember Slim, the Black Tipped (aka Slender) Mongoose? Well, he’s still around and today I put out the remnants of a roast chicken for him.

To my surprise, the Ground Squirrels were the first to the carcass and started voraciously gnawing away at the bones (above).

What surprised me even more was that the squirrels seemed to enjoy eating fatty bits of flesh from the chicken too. Whatever next?

As soon as Slim appeared (below), he quickly made off with the whole carcass, obviously intent on having the feast all to himself. With so many squirrels about (I counted at least eight in the vicinity of the chicken today), who can blame him?

Part of the reason for the squirrel glut is that I’ve started putting out maize for whatever animals and birds want it – and it’s attracting dozens of squirrels as well as doves and francolin…even the sharp little dikdiks have found it and come each evening to have a free meal.

On a completely different note, the yellow Aloes in our balcony flowerbeds are flowering for the first time, which will probably bring in the sunbirds we see flitting around in the acacia trees around the house. I must try to remember to take a photo before I rush off on another trip again...

There is a stretch of road on our way home through the bush where we inevitably see flocks of guineafowl. I think they like the open grassy stretches on either side of the road, a welcome relief from the thick surrounding bush. Here, we are almost guaranteed a sighting of the more common Helmeted Guineafowl, but also - happily - we often see large flocks of the stunning yet less often seen Vulturine Guineafowl, with their long dragging tails, bright red eyes and electric blue-striped feathers. They are a wonder to behold, foraging through the bushland, picking up grass-seeds from the ground as they go.

Yesterday, I saw a huge flock of these Vulturine Guineas on my way out to Mtito Andei (our closest town, an hour's drive away - well, it's hardly a town, but it's all we've got!). On the way home I came across two flocks (the second being the same as the one I had seen on my outward bound journey, I'm sure). I immediately cut the engine upon seeing them, and within minutes, they were all around the car. It was a shame because the light was dull - it's been so overcast and grey recently - but nonetheless their blue colour dazzled (above). It's interesting to see how the youngsters seem to develop their iconic blue colouring before they get their badge of adulthood, the red eye.

When you look closer, these guineafowl are extraordinary birds - and by that I mean really strange...ugly and beautiful in equal measure, depending on what pose you capture them in - their faces so expressive and comical, often apparently disapproving and always a little arrogant. They seem to think themselves the beauty queens of the bird world, but it has to be said, from some angles there's no guessing why they gained the name "vulturine"! Here they are then, presented poster-style, from every which way...

PS. We had a Hare on our lawn last night, munching away at the green grass...there's no need for an electric mower in these parts!

Today’s is a tale of tragedy and triumph, though not shared by the same protagonists. The Spur-winged Plovers, in defense of their ink-splattered eggs in their shallow sand nest have spent the days since you last saw them challenging increasingly ominous foe…

First it was the Vervet Monkeys, who venture daily onto the sandbank to drink from the river and – I noticed this time – like to snatch juicy shoots from the reed islands (above), much to the plovers’ chagrin (below).

The next day, it was real danger. Even one Marabou Stork poses a serious threat to plover eggs, let alone three! On this horribly grey morning, a trio wondered perilously close to the plover nest before they were driven away by the parent plovers (or perhaps just by chance)…excuse the awful grey light:

So, with the plover parents having overcome these obstacles, you can imagine my horror when, upon hearing their alarm calls, I ran outside to see what was the matter, and the entire sandbank was covered by baboons.

Just as I reached the balcony, a baboon found the nest. Poor plovers! All that hard work and dedication now in vain, their offspring devoured in three quick mouthfuls. I felt so desperate and sad for them. But what do you do? That is nature at work, no matter how heart-breaking [it’s amazing how quickly you become so attached to these animals and birds who are playing out their lives around you]. And then the question arises: if I had been on the balcony earlier, would I have run down to the beach to try to chase away the baboons? Is it my right to interfere with nature’s course? Of course I know it’s not, but nonetheless it can be sorely tempting at times like these…

It’s hard to feel sorry for any baboon after witnessing the demise of the plovers' eggs at the hands of a big dog baboon but – how fickle my allegiances! – I could not help but feel sorry for this little baby baboon which was so patently terrified by the dive-bombing plovers.

The birds, as if they were oblivious to the fact that their eggs were gone, continued to harass the baboons, perhaps out of anger, or perhaps just driven by instinct… Even some of the larger baboons did not appreciate their attention:

While others just carried on without showing the slightest sign of aggravation or even remorse (for they are of course baboons, not people!), busily feeding on the newly sprouted grass shoots on the river bank, digging up larger clumps and shaking off the dirt before nibbling away at them.

Others seemed to have a few scores to settle amongst themselves (above) and chased each other with great gnashing of teeth across the sand…and the terrified little mites continued trying in vain to escape the wrath of the plovers.

Enough of that: onto some news worthy of celebration! Our Egyptian Geese brought their brand new brood to the river on July 11th, and guess how many little ones there were? No fewer than TWELVE!

Remember we saw the geese mating on 31st May?

Here are the brand new goslings, embarking on their very first swim:

You can see here how the little ones are sticking very close to their mother – it’s a big scary river out there, and there’s no practice run for learning how to swim – it’s straight in at the deep end!

As I’ve mentioned before, Day One in the life of a gosling is a bit of a shocker. The day they hatch, they have to launch themselves from the nest (high up in a tree), fall to the ground where they are (it seems) designed to bounce, and from there, on their tiny unsteady legs, they have to make their way to the river - as far as one kilometer away - where they will start feeding themselves from the word go. They learn to do so by copying Mum and Dad (perhaps instinctively too?):

Fortunately, they have a pair of extremely protective parents, who not only teach by example but also fend off anything remotely resembling a threat to their new and fluffy brood.

Imagine being this tiny and seeing a crocodile for the very first time (even though it is a very small croc)…

I hate to say this, but be prepared for some tragedies to come during this saga, for keeping all twelve little goslings safe against a myriad of predators will take some doing...but enough of this doom and gloom: As of today, July 15th, the entire brood is still in tow, now much steadier on their feet and already noticeably growing.

The weather has been so cold and grey recently (so much for living in the Tropics), and the geese parents have been shepherding their offspring into the reed islands to keep them out of the ferocious wind. They also seem to be spending the nights huddled together in one or the other of the reed islands in front of the house. As they emerge in the morning, it is sweet to see how the parents go backwards and forwards to make sure that none of their brood gets left behind. (Sorry about the terrible light in the photo below.)

A big Thank You to fabulous photographer of African wildlife, Andy Biggs, who showed me a better way to save and upload my photos, to give you a better viewing experience…and Congratulations to Andy and his wife on the birth of their new baby boy!

If you like birds, please take a moment to scroll through my June 2008 Bird Gallery. July is also turning out to be spectacular. I will be writing about many of these sightings in due course, but you know me – it may take time! June and July have been cold, grey and windy but incredible from a birding perspective…

Yesterday's moon, one day from full

Do you remember our Spur-winged Plover Stories from last year? There was the family two kilometers upriver, which we followed for three weeks (remember the heart-ache when the river flooded and took with it “our” three-week old chicks, who had so bravely withstood all challenges up to that point?), and then there was the pair much closer to home, which we could see from the balcony – probably the very same pair who are nesting again now – who last time lost their eggs to another flood. When (if ever) will these plovers learn not to nest in the river bed where any rise in the water levels threatens their offspring? This pair have not learned any lessons, for wait until you hear where they have nested this time!

I only managed to spot the nest because I noticed one plover foraging on its own below the house (normally you always see them in pairs) and then I heard their mating call…this made me actively seek out the nest with binoculars from the vantage point of our balcony…and eventually I found it, up to the left of the house, right where the grass is starting to come through, attracting all manner of grazing animals with hooves that could destroy those precious eggs with one misplaced step. There is no cover whatsoever for the nest – what on earth made them build it there? The parent birds have merely scraped out a small depression, collected together a few sticks and stones, and there the mother has laid three perfect eggs.

Perfectly camouflaged eggs

Now, of course, not having noticed it straight away, I cannot say precisely when the eggs were laid, but – coincidentally – I was looking through some of my photos from before I went to Nairobi – I had been photographing various animals grazing on the newly-grassed sandbank, and there in one of the photos of an Egyptian Goose is the plover, already sitting on its nest! So we now know the birds were already sitting on their eggs then (that was 30th May), so they must be hatching soon….?

This is the photo where by chance I noticed the plover sitting on its eggs (see the far left hand side of the picture)

What’s unusual about this pair of nesting plovers, is their “quiet approach” to potential intruders. As you’ll remember, most plover parents are noisy and boisterous in the extreme, in order to drive potential nest-raiders or wreckers away…but this pair seem to be adopting another approach: merely hunkering down and staying firmly put atop their nest, no matter who or what passes by.

Having said that, occasionally they do get a little nervy and revert to type, emitting their high-pitched chit-chit alarm call and trying to goad the intruder away by “shamming” – pretending they are sitting down on their nest, but in fact are just leading the enemy astray.

Recent daytime passers-by the nest include impala (frequently, including our beautiful young One-Horn and his friend), the Egyptian Geese, Waterbuck and the Hadada Ibis. We’ve also been seeing the tracks of a small leopard on the beach, but hopefully it will leave the plovers in peace.

In all the images below, if you look carefully, you can see the plover crouching low on its nest...also note the Oxpeckers on the back of the young Impala...

Further down the beach is another pair of plovers, and these are boisterous in the extreme – perhaps they are nesting too? This morning I watched them dive-bombing a troop of vervet monkeys, who did not seem the least concerned, much to the plover’s consternation.

By the way, as I write this, the full moon is flowing in through my office window…so beautiful… I don’t know when I’m actually going to be able to post this, as we’re having problems with our internet connection and only getting about five minutes access to the net every 24 hours…very frustrating, as so much of our work is internet-dependent, as is this blog of course… Living in the middle of nowhere certainly has many advantages, but when your internet is down, you are completely isolated…

Anyway, back to the story…yes, love must be in the air for it’s not just the Spur-winged Plovers who are feeling broody – the petite Treble-banded Plovers are at it too. The other day, as I was down at the beach photographing their bigger cousins, I happened to catch a glimpse of the little guys mating.

The Spur-winged Plovers did not take kindly to that, and immediately chased the Treble-banded Plovers away (how ridiculous is that, I ask you? They’re about a third of the Spur-winged Plovers’ size and no threat to man nor beast…unless you’re a worm, I suppose!)

The Pied Kingfishers were also having a go, but way across the river where I could only get a poor shot of them in flagrante. The Von der Decken Hornbills are courting too, and so are the Sparrows!

Von der Decken Hornbills courting (female on right): click to enlarge any image
The Sparrows are at it too!
The Ground Squirrels are not to be left out either...

Even the Unstriped Ground Squirrels are getting up close and personal. I notice they’ve been digging a huge network of burrows behind the house. It’s all going on here, you know! As an aside, take a closer look at the Ground Squirrels – don’t you think they are just so perfectly adapted for camouflage in the red Tsavo dust? Their mottled fur practically blends into the background.

The Ground Squirrels are getting cosy...
You can clearly see the scrape marks where the squirrels have been digging out the entrance to a new burrow.
In fact, there's a whole network of burrows now...this is just the beginning!

As for the Rock Hyraxes, it seems like they have led the way in the love stakes. Here are a couple of very cute little babies as proof, emerging from our woodpile to warm themselves in the morning sun…

I saw the Dwarf Mongooses again today – their youngsters (which we saw being carried by their nannies back on the 24th May are now big enough to run along with the band themselves, but they’re still quite small and baby-faced. Unfortunately, they had dashed across the road and disappeared into the undergrowth before I had a chance to photograph them.

I took this shot of our road home, just to show you how dry the landscape is becoming inland. Where this photo was taken is only three or four hundred yards from the river’s edge. No wonder a lot of the animals are moving back to the river at the moment…despite the cold, grey, very windy weather, and the temptation of rain clouds which never fall, the country really is getting very dry. The long rains which are meant to fall April through June, have not been good this year.

The big one-horned impala ram is still at the helm of his harem, which visits our river bank daily

I went back up to the old Hammerkop nest but could see no sign of the female goose in the nest...either she was hunkering down, or she is not nesting there…the mystery continues…

(Any of the images below can be enlarged - just click on the thumbnail...)

I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time to witness this, for the geese had been courting for a while, the male hovering around the female at all times, making a lot of noise and flapping his wings, as if trying to impress her. (She didn’t strike me as being all that impressed, mind you.)

Since they mated, the female goose has been disappearing for long stretches at a time, leaving the male alone to graze on the new grass growing so green and lush on the sandbank….so it is safe to assume she is on the nest – but where? The day I saw the geese mating, I went up to the dam (weir) on the small Mtito River at the top of our property, where the two old hammerkop nests are (which the geese and the hammerkops have both been using on and off for years. Do you remember me talking about them last November (when I obviously did not have time to post photos...) Well, several things have changed since my last visit to the site: one of the old doum palms has fallen down, taking the older hammerkop nest with it. The newer hammerkop nest looks in ship-shape condition – in fact, the nest hole has been widened which suggests it is being prepared for use…perhaps by the geese? I must go up there again as soon as I can to see if the goose is sitting…if she’s not there, well then, I know not where she is! (In this description, I am assuming that the female goose is the one sitting – for in reality, both sexes look the same, but judging by the behaviour of the one left behind on the river, I think he’s the male.)

Spare some pity for the tiny goslings, whose first task in life will be to leap from the nest (above), which is more than twenty feet off the ground, and land on a dry barren riverbed (the Mtito River is dry at this time of year), before walking a full kilometre on their tiny legs to the Athi River where they will thankfully find water and food. Fortunately for the goslings, nature designed them to bounce so – somehow – they survive this leap into the unknown, which is just the very first of many perils they will have to face before they reach adulthood. Despite the best efforts of their aggressive parents, the tiny goslings are much in demand from eagles and any other small predator which would make an easy mouthful of them…

Talking of aggression, the male goose has become aggression personified since he mated. Any other goose that appears within or even near his territory (which seems to be a stretch of river about 800-1000 yards long, to the left and right of our house) gets treated to a ferocious chase and merciless assault if caught.

The other day I watched as “our” male goose chased down a pair of geese that had appeared further downstream. Somehow he caught up with them (they had taken off the minute they saw him take off, but somehow he found the speed to catch them even though they had 200 yards head start) and launched himself at the other male, sending him crashing headlong into the river. This in turn startled a big crocodile who was dozing at the river’s edge, sending him crashing into the river too…you certainly can’t accuse the lone male goose of not taking care of his own!

Whenever the female rejoins the male on the river bank (normally late evening and early morning), it’s always a dramatic affair with lots of quacking and flapping of wings and posturing. In fact, in the early morning, I see the two geese flying from the direction of the old hammerkop nest, over the top of our house and back to the Athi River, so I wonder whether the male roosts alongside the female in the nest?

Re-visit the story of our Egyptian Geese when they had their last lot of goslings in September 2007...

“Our” hippos seem to be doing rather well. Every time we go down to Hippo Bend, at the far end of our property where the huge white sandbank provides the perfect viewing spot, we seem to see more and more of them in their deep water pool below the rapids.

After visiting them a few times, you can predict their routine, for there seems to be a set pattern to their behaviour. The hippos spend the heat of each day lethargic, docile and almost entirely submerged in the river, protected from the sun’s cruel burning rays by the water and by special sun-blocking secretions from their skin.

Then, as soon as the sun dips below the tree-line in the late afternoon, the pod – almost as one - immediately starts to rumble, grumble and stir. (Come the dull light, out come the hippos: yet more frustration for the photographer who relishes the golden light at the day’s end but is thwarted in the pursuit of a great action shot by the hippos’ inactivity while the sun still shines!)

You are alerted to their imminent activity by the distinctive honking of one or another in the pod, and then inevitably the odd scuffles ensue, as the giants awake from their slumber…suddenly one will lash out at the other, rudely ending the day’s reverie and there will be a great splashing of water and lunging at the speed of lightning (who would have expected it from such a great lumbering beast?).

And of course there’s a great deal of the obligatory wide-mouthed yawning, just to show who’s boss (there seem to be a few contenders, even amongst the babies who mimic their elders).

Finally, as the darkness draws the human spectators reluctantly away, they know that in their wake, the hippos will leave the sanctuary of their river and head inland, in search of grass to fill their great stomachs and sustain them for the next day, which will be spent so busily suspended in the cooling water of their deep river pool…

You may remember that we’ve been seeing the Spot-flanked Barbets around and about the place for a while now, usually in the commiphora thicket behind the house, but they’ve always been quite shy. So you can imagine our delight when one of these Barbets turned up on the bird table! They always seem to come when the Bulbuls are there too – it’s as if they feel safe with them around – or perhaps it’s just because they are both fruit-eaters that they end up foraging together…although if I were a Barbet I’d try to get in there before the Bulbuls who are so voracious (below)!

The birds are not the only ones in competition for the fruit – even the bees (or are they big flies?) have taken a liking to mango. Whether the lizards are here for the fruit or merely for the ants which have been attracted to the fruit is hard to tell, but they aren’t shy of the birds.

The Spot-flanked Barbets (above) are also showing a particular penchant for the sanseviera robusta fruit, which are ripe and orange now. I often see them in the sanseviera stand below the kitchen window, plucking off the plump round fruit and swallowing them whole.

There seem to be a lot of White-capped Shrikes around at the moment (above), making their presence felt with their noisy chatter.

A gaggle of Superb Starlings has been in the area too – strangely they have yet to visit the bird table (normally they are among the first to come to bird tables in Kenya, but perhaps they have been put off by the larger and equally boisterous Glossy Starlings, below).

As you can see by the photos above and below, the weather has been grey and cold. When the Helmeted Guineafowl passed by right below the house, it was just my luck that the light was dull, but I’m sure you can see nonetheless that they are quite spectacular, cheerful looking birds.

The Go-Away Birds (below) really seem to have grown accustomed to the house and all its accompanying activity – we see them daily from our balcony. The Black-faced Sandgrouse continue to fly in at 8.30am each morning, come blue skies or grey, to gulp a few quick mouthfuls of water before racing back to the dry hinterland again, completely unconcerned by our presence. The Blue-naped Mousebirds with their appropriately long tails and (believe it or not) blue napes have also been feeding and drinking along the river’s edge recently.

The Hadada Ibis, as it forages along the river’s shore, is followed by a Spur-winged Plover and a couple of opportunistic Pied Wagtails (below), hoping to catch an insect or two disturbed by the larger bird…it’s interesting to see the Plover subdued (for once) and not trying to bully and intimidate the Ibis, as it does with so many other much larger passers-by.

This Grey-headed Kingfisher made me laugh as it watched an eagle fly overhead…obviously it wasn’t too pleased but I’m not quite sure what it hoped to achieve by hunkering down like a stalking cat! In these photos, you can easily see the chestnut belly of the Grey-headed Kingfisher, which distinguishes it from the otherwise similar Brown-hooded Kingfisher, which we also see from time to time here on the property.

The Spotted Morning Warbler (below) is an extraordinary bird, not only for the incredible mud nest (like a little cup, perched atop a branch) which it builds, but for the way it mimics other bird calls. Its repertoire is quite amazing.

Those Fish Eagles are not doing much better with their fishing…As the river level drops, fish are getting trapped in pockets of water, like sitting ducks. The Pied Kingfishers hover and dive all day, picking off the hapless fish. The Fish Eagles however, seem to be eternally unsuccessful…no wonder the young Fish Eagle (middle photo, below), sitting in a tree opposite the house and whining, is making his displeasure heard! As for us, we have been having a great time eagle-watching…I have taken endless photos of these majestic looking creatures diving and swooping for their prey…if you’d like to see them, there’s a wider selection of photos here.