Once again I have chosen a small list of selected species which we were hoping to see on our two trips.
Temminck's Courser
Cursorius temminckii
A few years earlier we had visited Israel and found a small party of Cream Coloured Coursers which we enjoyed very much. So our trips to Kenya opened up the door for a number of different Courser species. There are five breeding Courser species in Kenya and many of our Safari drives were spent looking on the ground hoping to see some movement. Not as easy as it sounds, but Doreen and myself had a reasonable amount of success. The Temminck's Courser is the commonest and most widespread Courser in Kenya, and very much on our must-see-list. On our first trip, we located six in the Masai Mara, but just one was seen on our second trip. When found they quickly moved away and was soon lost in the vegetation.
As we were driving along one day, I spotted a Violet-Tipped Courser standing in the shade along the side of the road. Violet Tipped Coursers are generally nocturnal and during the day they rest in shade of a shrub and often seen near roadsides. Unfortunately it soon disappeared when we stopped the vehicle.
Somali Courser
Cursorius somalensis littoralis
On our second trip this time with Bird Quest, Ian Robinson picked out a flock 29 Somali Coursers and these showed well. Somali Courser was for a long time lumped as a separate race with Cream-Coloured Courser although it has a number of distinctive features which clearly separates it from Cream Coloured and has rightly now become a full species. In Kenya, it is locally common on short grass plains throughout N. Kenya.
Two-Banded Courser
Rhinoptilus africanus gracilis
The Two-banded Courser is considered to be rather uncommon and local resident of dry sandy or alkaline flats and short grass plains. Once again Doreen and myself were looking hard on the safari drives with success at Amboseli where we picked out 2 of these Coursers and as you will see on the above photograph, they do match the ground cover very well. It is chiefly restricted to the Southern Game Parks in Kenya. As with the other species of Coursers all were on our must-see list.
Black-and-White Casqued Hornbill
Bycanistes subcylindricus subquadratus
When going abroad to Asia or Africa, I always look forward to seeing Hornbills although I do prefer seeing Asiatic Hornbills which are more exotic looking to African Hornbills.
In Kenya the Black and White Casqued Hornbill is locally common west of the Rift Valley in forests between 1600 and 2400 m. We only recorded it on our second trip in the Kakamega forest area with up to 15 on a day were seen and also in the Masi Mara but only in small numbers. This particular bird came flying at me as I was walking along a forest trail and virtually flew over my head. In total we saw 12 species of Hornbill during out two trips to Kenya.
Adult Secretary Bird.
Sagittarius serpentarius
When we booked to go on the first trip to Kenya, the Secretary Bird was without doubt my most wanted bird of the trip. In Kenya it is no where common, chiefly terrestrial hunting for insects, rodents and reptiles, but at times will soar high on thermals. Its often attracted to bush fires
On the first trip we saw it on five dates with a total of 8 different individuals and on the second trip we recorded it on six dates.
