April 20th – Finally, A Warm Day & News From Matangwe (Kenya)

Bonaparte’s Gulls have been a common sight along the Grand for the past several days. -R. Mueller

Although it didn’t start off that way. It was only 2 degrees at 6:00 when we started to open. But when the sun cleared the horizon it warmed up quickly, reaching 17 by noon when we closed (and higher in the afternoon). Further, the wind, blowing lightly out of the N, was a non-factor comfort-wise.

The buoyant flight of Bonaparte’s Gulls is a delight to watch. -R. Mueller

A male bluebird holding its ground…for now. -R. Mueller

There weren’t a lot of birds around though. Perhaps the most interesting were the Bonaparte’s Gulls that have been plying the river, moving to fields still showing the remnants of the recent flooding to feed.

-R. Mueller

Just a flash of blue before disapperaring into the box. -R. Mueller

“Love”, or at least procreation, was in the air. The Purple Martins, ten of them – a mix of males and females – were chattering away as they checked out the nesting possibilities. Tree Swallows, pairing up now, were taking charge of particular nesting boxes and trying to drive a pair of Eastern Bluebirds away so they could keep them all to themselves. And then there were the Turkey Vultures. I interrupted a pair copulating quite ostentatiously on top of one of the Mansion’s chimneys when I tried, somewhat voyeuristically, to take their picture. Once I got the camera pointed in their direction, the male dismounted and stepped away while the female ruffled her feathers. With Turkey Vultures, when copulation is successful, the female sighs and tries to maintain physical proximity with the male (i.e, “snuggle”)…while the male likes to step back and have a smoke. Soon after they flew off and I could tell she wasn’t happy – having that look that says: “See, I told you it wasn’t a good idea.” That look is pretty universal across a wide range of species…evidently.

Coitus Interruptus besets a pair of Turkey Vultures.

Field Sparrows have been taking advantage of the natural regeneration projects on the site. -R. Mueller

Two brilliant “white morph” White-throated Sparrows.

Banded 17:
1 Tree Swallow
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
1 Hermit Thrush
1 European Starling
2 Northern Cardinals
1 Chipping Sparrow
2 Song Sparrows
1 Swamp Sparrow
2 Dark-eyed Juncos
1 Red-winged Blackbird
4 American Goldfinches

ET’s: 46 spp.

Amondi Christine with a Black-headed Gonolek, -D. Odhiambo

News From Matangwe
Dan Odhiambo and Amondi Christine have been running “meetings” of the Matangwe Bird Club weekly since I left at the end of February. Now, thanks to funds donated by readers JUST LIKE YOU they have a digital camera and are able to send pictures of the remarkable birds they are catching and capture the local students in the act of learning about their local avifauna. [Of course, nothing is perfect….it sometimes takes Christine more than 6 hours to send them from the local cyber cafe in Bondo.]

Part of the fence put up to restrict livestock to one of the ponds. -A. Christine

Also, other aspects of the project are moving ahead: the first phase in protecting the big ponds – source of drinking water for the community – was completed: a barbed wire fence to restrict access by livestock to one of the ponds. As well the first meeting of a group of women who are interested in raising tree seedlings was held during the week.