Thanks for all your comments about Koikai, and about the elephant. I will take your advice on board and see what we can do, and pass on your best wishes to him. I’ll let you know as soon as I have any news. In the meantime let me tell you of some more pleasant things. This time of year is my favorite time to be in the Chyulus. It is really interesting because many different birds come to our camp looking for water.
I was getting so tired of work in the office that I needed to take a break. So, I had a walk outside and had a look at these amazing birds and felt much more relaxed. I took a few photos. Can you help me to identify them?
Beautiful birds Antony! Thank you for the lovely pictures. I hope you can figure the elephant thing out soon…in the meantime, everyone just needs to be even more cautious than usual I guess…keep safe!
Great photos Antony! Really pretty birds, I can see why you enjoy birdwatching.
Great photos Anthony! The top one looks like a yellow vented bulbul, but photo is not very easy to see the body colouring of the bird …did it have a yellow butt? SEcond one is a stunning tiny finch, the blue cheeked cordon bleu, third one looks like a black throated barbet but the spotted flanks are totally out of place – it looks a little like the spot-flanked barbet but that species which has the spots also has an unmistakable bright yellow eye! Where did you see it? The last one looks like the blue eared starling. Nature Kenya has some of the countries best birders – you should take lots of photos and ask them to help identify.
Dear Anthony,
Excellent photographs. Well done!
1. I can believe the first is a bulbul as a previous visitor suggests, but cannot say for certain that it is a Yellow-vented Bulbul. If a Yellow-vented Bulbul, one might expect a more prominent white eye-ring.
2. This bird is a male Red-cheeked Cordon Bleu. Females lack the red patch on the sides of the face.
3. Despite the apparent lack of a yellow eye, this bird does appear to be a Spot-flanked Barbet. See the images below in which the yellow is not apparent or only slightly so:
4. Lesser Blue-eared Starling
Thank you for all your help identifying these birds. I feel so lucky to see such amazing and pretty birds around my camp.