mvecht`s fifth BY

[mvecht]

KE 125 Usambiro Barbet

 

 

KE 126

Fork-tailed Drongo

 

 

 

KE 127 Purple Grenadier

 

KE 128 Golden-breasted Bunting

 

KE 129 Red-cheeked Cordonbleu

 

KE 130 Temmincks Courser

 

KE 131  Gray-headed Social Weaver

 

KE 132 African Gray Flycatcher

[mvecht]

I had forgotten a few from Sabaki River Estuary

KE 133 Black-headed Gull

 

KE 134 Whitefaced Whistling Duck

 

 

KE 135 EBC Yellowbilled Stork

 

Back to Ol Kinyei

KE 136 Egyptian Goose

 

 

Edited April 10, 2023 by mvecht
typo

[mvecht]

KE 137 European Roller

 

 

KE 138 Grey Kestrel

 

 

KE 139 African Hawk Eagle

 

KE 140 Steppe Eagle

 

 

KE 141 Tawny Eagle

 

 

KE 142 Secretary Bird

 

 

 

 

 

[mvecht]

KE 143/144/145 Ruppels/Lappetfaced and Whitebacked Vulture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mvecht]

And finally KE 146 African Hobby

 

 

 

KE 147 Augur Buzzard is the last bird from Kenya. Time to figure where to go next

 

[michael-ibk]

African Hobby is a good one - never seen one! Great Kenya birds, really enjoyed them. 🙂

[mvecht]

@michael-ibk

thank you. Yes we had a number of birds we did not expect so quite a few lifers. On the other hand we also missed quite a few birds we expected to see!  In june we are of to Cyprus which should give us a few lifers

Edited April 10, 2023 by mvecht
Mistake

[Galana]

7 hours ago, mvecht said:

White-rumped = northern Whitecrowned. I should have used the scientific name😀

And checked #86 and #110 too.

I can forgive most things but not spelling GrEy with an 'a''.

Merlin should stick to Arthurian legends and keep off our birds.

A great finale. Where was your Usambiro Barbet seen?  It is one but looks out of range.

[TonyQ]

A great selection from Kenya. The African Hobby is a real beauty.

@Galana

Merlin can be set to use a range of languages for common names, including English (Uk) which uses Grey rather than Gray. 
It also includes English (USA) and English (India) and English (South Africa) amongst English variations as well as dozens of World Languages. 

[xelas]

18 hours ago, Tdgraves said:

are they going to change the Latin names as well???

 One more reason to add also the Latin name. They are changing also, but much rarely to names in English.

 

Luckily the name is of less importance, seeing the bird and taking photos of is what counts!

[xelas]

11 hours ago, Galana said:

I can forgive most things but not spelling GrEy with an 'a''.

You will see plenty of "gray" in my upcoming thread .

 

10 hours ago, TonyQ said:

Merlin can be set to use a range of languages for common names, including English (Uk) which uses Grey rather than Gray. 

Oh my. Should I change the settings and correct all "gray" to "grey"?!

 

14 hours ago, mvecht said:

Yes we had a number of birds we did not expect so quite a few lifers.

On top of lifers you also have many excellent photos! It is great to see that Africa delivered again!

[Kitsafari]

a belated congrats on a brilliant image of the martial for your 100th! and wow i've never seen the african hobby and it's a beauty. 

 

[PeterHG]

Superb photos in your batch! I agree with the others on the African Hobby, very special!

[Peter Connan]

Congratulations on blasting past the century (and I think the century-and-half) in your overall count?) with some magnificent birds and some really great shots.

[Zim Girl]

Great collection of Kenyan birds and congratulations on getting past the century!

[mvecht]

@Galana  Sorry for the spelling. You will have to forgive those of us that are not native speakers The Usamburu Barbet(s) were seen in Ol Kinyei so I dont believe they are out of range?

@xelas, @Kitsafari, @Peter Connan, @PeterHG, @Zim Girl, @TonyQ, @michael-ibkThank you for the kind words. The African Hobby was a lifer for the guide and spotter as well

[pedro maia]

So many cool birds, congrats on the first ton!

[Galana]

4 hours ago, mvecht said:

The Usamburu Barbet(s) were seen in Ol Kinyei so I dont believe they are out of range?

True enough. I somehow thought you were up in Samburu.

[mvecht]

@Galanahas made me aware that I have made a double count KE 86 and 110. Maybe I should have put one down as White- rumped and the other as White-crowned Shrike😎. I apologize for the mistake so the total for Kenya ends up at 145. 

[mvecht]

#160, IOM 17 Robin near our house

 

#161  IOM 18  Common Crane near our house

The Crane migration has been a bit odd this year. Many days with Easterly and Northerly winds so the Cranes have been coming in small numbers with only a few good days. We have however seen close to a 1000 birds in total.

 

[mvecht]

The weather was decent today so I went to some nearby small lakes.

#162 IOM 19  Chiffchaff

 

#163 IOM 20 Greater Crested Grebe

 

 

I was hoping for a nice display but they went to sleep.

 

#164 IOM 21 Common Coot

 

#165 IOM 22 Northern Shoveler

 

#166 IOM 23 Cormorant

#167 IOM24 Shelduck

 

#168 IOM 25 Gadwall

 

# 169 IOM 26 Northern Lapwing

 

#170 IOM 27 Red-necked Grebe

[Galana]

A good day out. Love the Red-necked Grebes. Never seen one.

[Soukous]

I've never seen a Red-necked Grebe either. Are they rare or common in your part of the World?

[mvecht]

@Soukous, @GalanaRed-necked Grebe is quite common where I live. There are 1-2 pairs just next to the house and 8-10 pairs at the small lakes I visit frequently.

You cant miss them in breeding season. They are extremely noisy. In Denmark they are nicknamed "pigs" due to their squealing noises.

 

Catching up after not having been online for a while.

 

#171 IOM 28 Common Pheasant

 

 

#172 IOM 29 Chaffinch

 

#173 IOM 30 Corn Bunting. Not the best picture but I dont see them very often

 

#174 IOM 31 Common Eider

 

#175 IOM 32 Western Yellow-tailed Wagtail

 

 

 

#176 IOM 33 Lesser Whitethroat

 

#177 IOM 34 Wood Pigeon

 

#178 IOM 35 Blackbird

 

#179 IOM 36 Oystercatcher 

 

#180 IOM 37 Mute Swan

 

#181 IOM 38 Sparrowhawk

[mvecht]

#182 IOM 39 Red-breasted Goose

They breed in Norther Siberia and are a fairly rare visitor to Northern Europe.

The often travel with Barnacle Geese and are not easy to spot in a flock of 1-3000 other Geese.

I spent almost 25 minutes finding these two in a flock of less than 1000 Barnacle Geese.

 

 

Two of them!