Nairobi Ringing Group

In the last two months Green spaces within Nairobi has experienced a much large pair of Haada ibis breeding. On Museum grounds we had four pairs. These species has very poorly structured flat nest very high in the croton trees. For this reason some may often fall off the nests. This juvenile was brought in Ornithology section after falling off the nest. These members of our Ringing Group were happy hold it and look for worms to feed it before it was taken to Avian rescue center in Karen, where it was received for Care. Thanks Sam for organizing the delivery at rescue center. The bird was too young to be ringed with correct ring size.

The Ngulia Annual bird ringing in Tsavo National Park in Kenya lasted for 10 days (30th November to 10th December), the least number of days spent here ever. About 5700 Palaearctic song birds were captured and ringed, together with some great species of local afrotropical birds. Here we ring birds(mostly warblers and sprossers) on their southward migration at night during absence of moon and presence of misty cloud, a situations that get birds attracted to game lights at the lodge at night in hundreds and sometimes thousands. It was great for our new members to join other ringers here and learn new skills and get to see new species as well, promoting local capacity. Below photos shows, a team of ringers at site,Pytilia melba, red-headed weaver, Irania or white-throated robin,jacobin cuckoo and the Eurasian and plain nightjars. We officially postponed ringing sessions till January since most members are traveling for holiday festive. We wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year 2022.

We are now on our second week of ringing the Eurasian migratory songbirds at Ngulia Safari Lodge. These are Eurasian migratory song birds, passing through the Ngulia Safari Lodge every year. We arrived on Tuesday last week and and so far we have ringed 3000 birds most of them warblers( Marsh warblers, Basra reed warbler, barred warblers, upchers warblers, olivacious warbler), Sprossers, common nightingale, black and white cuckoo, red-backed shrike, red-tailed shrike and some afrotropical species including barbets, finches and pytilias among others. Below is a photo of Barred Warbler(Sylvia nisoria).

We missed our weekly ringing/banding this week. We are on next Tuesday.

Last weekend(11th, September) Bird Ringing/Banding session in Karen in Nairobi. Pairs of Black-collared Apalis ((Oreolais pulcher) and Black-throated Wattle-eye (Platysteira peltata) were our special forest birds for day since, captured for the first time since we resumed ringing at this site this year. Good news this week is that one of our trainees had a successful interview and will be joining International Crane foundation as a field assistant based in Eldoret and Western Kenya. Congratulations Collins, we wish you well, we shall miss you.

Last weekend (25th to 26th June 2021)marks our third visit to Karara for bird ringing. Our interest is to look at forest depended or specialist birds and the impact of urbanization. we had 18 birds of 8 species and 8 recaptures. Cabanis's Greenbul ( 9 inddividuals) and White-stared Robin (2 individuals) were the forest specialist species. African Goshawk and Collared sunbird were forest visitors. Ann ( one of students) has developed passion and interest in butterflies and therefore collected many to identified this week. Photos:Collared Sunbird,White-stared Robin and African Goshawk) Colins (an intern) and Joy(a student)

We are back at Karara ringing site in Karen Nairobi. Highland forest patch on edge of Ngong Forest. Below; Interns and University students learning molting in bird feathers

Our weekly bird ringing marks the end of our European species within the Museums Gardens, Nairobi. All the the Willow Warblers left last weekend and the nets yesterday recorded none. Few Marsh Warblers were captured with record fat score almost zero. These could birds on transit and stopping to fuel for more energy northwards. Also captured was a single Common White-throat (Sylvia communis) and our first Sedge Warbler(Acrocephalus schoenobaenus). New Afrotropical arrival was the Parisoma lugens. In the photos are Sedge Warbler, Parisoma lugens and held bird is the African Paradise Flycatcher.

As the European passerine warblers prepares to fly back from African wintering grounds into breeding grounds in Europe, The National Museums of Kenya Botanical grounds has hosted a great population of this migrants this year. Last week during our ringing session at Museums we had four species of warblers. They include Marsh Warbler, Willow warbler, Garden Warblers and Common White-throat, (in Photos). Out of the the total 59 birds captured including both migrants and native species. Out of these 29 birds were Willow Warblers.

Female Variable sunbird and immature Male Bronze Sunbird, Museums grounds Nairobi

We can now see some of our ringed birds during birding sessions at The Museums gardens, Nairobi National Museums. White-slaty Flycatcher, Chinspot Batis, African Paradise Flycatcher and Variable Sunbird. Let us know which ones you spotted with rings during your birding on the Museums grounds. Citizen science is the best for interactive learning. Thank You.

African Black Duck are highland river ducks. This pair was spotted on Nairobi River at the National Museums of Kenya in October.

Nairobi Ringing Group updated their business hours.

Bird ringing can play an important role in identifying species and adding to existing area checklists. This Blue-spotted Wood Dove is a wester Kenya Kenya. We captured it at The National Museums botanical gardens in Nairobi on 26th January and 11th January 2021 as a new species for Nairobi.