Birding in Kenya IX

Last week, Zephania and I stopped at the dam to see if we could spot the injured stork I posted about last week. There was no sign of it. 

Zephania using my binoculars looking for the stork  

 Driving along the road, we saw Meyers Parrots fly from trees on one side to the electric cable on the other. As we stopped, I photographed this parrot launching itself off the wire towards its nest in the wooden pole...

... to feed its young inside the nest

It turned and faced outwards to chew the food (I could see it doing this)

It almost climbed inside this time, and I wondered if there were nestlings to the back of the nest that it was feeding

And turned outwards to chew some more! I left the site after a while and the parent parrot was still feeding in this manner

On Sunday, Grant and I rode out into the bush and stopped to watch a Red-and-yellow Barbet collecting food on a termite mound.

Red-and-yellow Barbet female

While on a branch nearby another Red-and-yellow sunned itself on a branch.

Red-and-yellow Barbet male

As I turned from photographing these barbets, I noticed a skulking movement in a fence to the left of the road. I managed to snap this bird once before it flew off:

Slate-coloured Boubou

At the same time a small flock of birds dived into a nearby bush; they were so rowdy  and seemed to be squabbling. One flew up onto a fence post and then hopped onto a fallen log:

A Brown Babbler

Not only did we see the birds I posted above; we saw two Robin-chats singing in unison (too obscured by tree branches to get a good photo), we saw three Northern White-crowned Shrikes sitting tightly together on a branch above the Robin-chat concert. We saw a pair of Nubian Woodpeckers creeping up the tree trunk near us, to the right of us, we watched a pair of d'Arnaud's Barbets doing a mating dance and we saw a group of twenty Speckled Mousebirds (Grant counted them), a Beautiful Sunbird and female on a bush with rose-like blossoms, Greater Blue-eared Starling on the road in front of the vehicle and various Weavers flitting about. We'd spent an hour in one place and were rewarded with all these sights and sounds.

On the way back to camp we spotted this White-browed Coucal

For more bird posts around the world, click here

Thanks to all for your kind comments on my preparations for the VVIP lunch and dinner. Sue phoned me yesterday morning and said she'd had positive feedback about all the food: the leg of lamb was apparently very tasty and soft (phew!), her pumpkin pie (which is divine) was enjoyed, Caro's chickpea casserole went down very well and the Bread-and-butter pudding with a twist was lapped up.