Kenya: Ornithological records and itinerary

 

Kenya: Ornithological records and itinerary (1st of 8 posts from our Kenya Familiarization Trip)

Birds are indicators of landscape condition. Frequently used in landscape ecology and various acts of applied ecology. East Africa has a long tradition of ornithology and also of promoting wildlife watching. And birds are also important in outdoor recreation (birding and such things). A landscape full of birds is a living landscape.

In the following posts I present results from our six-day fam trip to Kenya. This is trip was supported by my home institution with local invitation and assistance from Kenya. We focused on inland waters (documentation); landscape assessment (using the LAP protocol for the first time in Africa) and tallying birds along the way. 

We track our bird sightings (as we often do) on the eBird database (https://ebird.org/home). We tallied 19 ebird checklists and a total of 183 bird species. Also we identified 18 mammal species in our six day sojourn. 

Here we present the itinerary and map in order to help others in such trips. 

And to promote high-quality ecotourism in Kenya. 

Obviously we had incredible help with our pre-planning work, people on the ground (National Museums of Kenya) and the rent-a-car agency (Simba Pride Adventures, see at the end). 

A schematic of the itinerary from the 7th to the 12th of February, with departure just after midnight on the 13th. In these days we focused on the four areas shown and did some stops inbetween. 

These are the sites we contributed lists of birds through the ebird database. In red: Known ebird hotspots, in blue: New sites explored (some of which were recommended as ebird hotspots). For further ornithological details see the trip report at: https://ebird.org/tripreport/204140

We wish to thank Simba Pride Adventures for car rental service and assistance in the field. Highly recommended!  www.simbaprideadventures.com