Nature Net October 2014

ISSN 2073-5111(Print)

nature net

October 2014

naturekenya.org

The Kenya Bird Map-milestones so far

By W. Wachira

T

he Kenya Bird Map is an internet-based bird database aimed at mapping the distribution of all Kenyan bird species.

Volunteer birders visit regions of the country and map birds they see there.

The atlas uses the pentad system to map birds. This is basically a grid of squares superimposed on the map of Kenya. A pentad represents an area 5’ by 5’ on the map of Kenya; translated on the ground to be 9km by 9km.

Tana River County executive for lands, agriculture, livestock and fisheries Hon. Omar W. Buketa cuts the rope to mark the official oppening of the Walkon community dip. PHOTO: M. MUSYOKI

Tana Delta’s only community owned cattle dip now operational

By G. Odera and J. Mwacharo

P

astoralist communities residing in Walkon now have a reason to smile following the inauguration of a newly constructed cattle dip in the area. The Walkon cattle dip, the only operational community owned cattle dip in the entire Tana River County, was officially opened in August. The opening ceremony was officiated by the County Executive for Lands, Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Hon. Omar W. Buketa.

Hon. Buketa thanked Nature Kenya for the efforts in

BY THE NUMBERS

120

The number of heads of cattle the Walkon dip can handle per hour.

improving the lives of the communities within Tana Delta – farmers, pastoralists and fishermen. He challenged the community to take charge of the opportunity that Nature Kenya’s efforts brought with it and pledged support of the county government in the management of the dip to ensure sustainability.

Since 2007, Nature Kenya has been working in Tana River Delta to safeguard ecosystems by enhancing community livelihoods.

When farmers and pastoralists earn more income from their land and livestock, it reduces pressure on local forests, wetlands and grassland. Nature Kenya works by developing the capacity of organized Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and assists them to help their communities.

A cattle dip is a construction that allows livestock to be completely immersed in water containing acaricides. The dips are used worldwide to treat livestock against parasites such as ticks, mites and lice.

Construction work for the cattle dip began last year and was undertaken by Nature Kenya, through funding from the United Kingdom Department for International Development (UK Aid). The construction was unique as it incorporated views and skills from various stakeholders: among them the Sub-county Public Works officer, Eng. Bii; Sub-county veterinary officer, Dr. Ongare; Sub-county livestock officer, Mr. Evans; local artisan Mr. Rhaya; the local community and Nature Kenya staff.

Cont’d in the next page

Since its inception in October 2013, the Kenya Bird Map (http://kenyabirdmap. adu.org.za) has made good progress. The number of bird mappers in the country has been on a steady rise from the initial 3 observers in the year 2013 to a current 285 observers. Of the 285 registered members, 48 have been able to submit records on the Kenya Bird Map website. Kenya has been divided into 8,208 pentads; and so far 103 of them have been mapped at least once. Even more remarkably, some of the pentads have been mapped many times i.e. pentad 0115_3645 which covers the central part of Nairobi City, including the National Museums of Kenya.

It leads with an amazing 23 full protocol cards and 5 ad hoc cards. This is the most comprehensively mapped pentad so far: congratulations to the Wednesday morning birdwalk team for submitting 12 of these cards.

The bird mapper with the highest number of cards submitted so far is Colin Jackson with 49 full protocol cards and 20 ad hoc Cont’d in the next page

The Kenya Bird Map-milestones so far Cont’d cards. He is followed by Peter Wairasho with 27 full protocol cards and 1 ad hoc card. Peter ties in the total number of cards submitted (28) with Darcy Ogada, who has 7 full protocol cards and 21 ad hoc cards.

Congratulations to our top three position holders! This is a challenge to all mappers; let us try and relocate the three top mappers out of their positions by birding and submitting records to the website.

east, the farthest is pentad number 0140_4100, between the Boni and Dodori National Reserves, mapped by Edson Mlamba and Fleur Ng’weno on 10/4/2014. The southernmost pentad is number 0410_3925, at Shimba Hills mapped by Dominic Chesire on 12/6/2014. Thumbs up to all the mappers who have made an extra effort to reach far and wide. Let us try and get even farther along our borders and map our birds.

The atlas is already bringing to light some interesting bird records. Eurasian BeeEaters were heard flying over on 10/9/2014 at the Nairobi Arboretum during the Wednesday morning birdwalk.

This is their first arrival record on the atlas for the year 2014.

Bird mapping continues, let us keep birding and sharing our records on the Kenya Bird Map website. If you are not in a position to enter the records online, kindly email typed/ scanned/photographed lists to kenyabirdmap@naturekenya.org or send a hard copy to Kenya Bird Map, Nature Kenya, P.O. Box 44486-00100, Nairobi.

For new mappers who are not registered, kindly email the Kenya Bird Map team on the email provided here and you will be registered immediately and given all the guidelines on how to begin mapping - welcome on board!

The national coverage is very encouraging. The northernmost pentad covered so far is number 0235c3720, between Mt. Kulal and Marsabit which was mapped by Peter Wairasho on 4/11/2013. To the west, the farthest pentad covered is number 0020c3425, at Mumias area mapped by Kassim Shitawah on 13/4/2014. To the

PHOTOS: P. USHER AND WIKIMEDIA

Spring Alive 2014 Season

Eurasian Bee-eater

Barn Swallow

White Stork

Cattle awaiting dipping at the Walkon dip. PHOTO: M. MUSYOKI

Tana Delta’s only community owned cattle dip now operational Cont’d The cattle dip targets to serve the pastoralist communities within Tana River County, both residents and non-residents, with a view to improving their livestock’s health and productivity.

The Walkon cattle dip stands out as the best cattle dip ever constructed within the entire Tana River County, according to the County’s Chief Officer in charge of livestock and fisheries Dr. Paul Mwamburi. Dr. Mwamburi applauded the efforts of Nature Kenya for ensuring that the dip constructed met the required standards for animal safety.

The dip has a volume of 16,000 litres with a capacity to handle over 120 heads of cattle per hour, and is managed by an elected and trained village dip management committee. It is expected that the dip will help in improving livestock health through reduction of tick

and tsetse fly borne diseases thereby improving both milk and meat productivity. Subsequently, this will enhance the pastoralists’ income and improve their living standards.

A second community owned cattle dip in Onkolde village is near completion and is expected to be opened soon.

Nature Kenya, with funding from UK Aid, initiated a program that sought to improve livelihoods of six villages, namely - Wema, Hewani, Moa, Walkon, Onkolde and Ozi at the Tana River Delta.

Construction of cattle dips was the main activity targeted in Walkon and Onkolde villages that are largely inhabited by pastoralists. Nature Kenya has focused on Tana Delta as it is a biodiversity hotspot and an Important Bird Area (IBA). It is also designated as a Ramsar site – a wetland of international importance.

Trees are flowering all over Nairobi and southern Kenya. It’s the southern hemisphere spring! And with it come migratory birds that nested in Europe and Asia. These birds fly thousands of kilometres to Africa to escape the cold season in the north.

More than 100 different species of birds migrate from Europe and Asia to Africa. The Spring Alive survey coordinated by BirdLife International challenges us to record the first arrival of five species: White Stork: a large white stork with a red beak; Common Cuckoo: it looks a lot like an African Cuckoo, but may be found in any habitat, and several of them may arrive at once; Eurasian Bee-eater: travel in flocks. A few arrived in Nairobi in September; Common Swift: difficult to distinguish from resident swifts. Usually in flocks; and the Barn Swallow: the Barn Swallows recorded in Kenya since July may have nested in North Africa.

To take part, record the first sightings of any of the ‘Spring Alive’ birds in your area. Indicate the place of the observation, the time, the species, estimated number and a brief description of the site (for example a wetland, open area, on top of a big tree etc). Send this information to office@naturekenya.org, copied to species@naturekenya.org. You can also send a text message to 0739 200217, tweet @Nature_Kenya or post on our Facebook page @NatureKenya. Only the first sightings should be recorded since the aim of the exercise is to gather data on the time of arrival of the birds in Africa.

For updates go to Editorial Team

Norman Kiboi Rodah Owako Fleur Ng’weno Serah Munguti John Mwacharo Layout John Mwacharo Front banner T. Leventis

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On clear, dark October evenings, look up at the sky….

‘Nairobi Museum is my Home’

By F. Ng’weno Planets, Oct 2014 At end September - early October, two reddish lights are close together high in southwest: the star Antares – the fiery eye of the Scorpion – and the planet Mars. During October, the two reddish lights slowly move apart. The moon is near Mars on Oct 28.

Golden Saturn is lower in the western sky, near the crescent moon on Oct 25. Bright Jupiter is high in the east in the morning before dawn.

Tiny Mercury is low in the west in early October. It sinks into the sunset at mid-month, close to the star Spica, and reappears in the sunrise a few days later.

The waning crescent moon is near Mercury before dawn on 22 October.

October Stars The constellation of the Scorpion crawls towards the western horizon. To the left of the Scorpion’s curving tail is the constellation Sagittarius; bright stars form a shape that can be seen as a teapot or basket.

High overhead, the bright star Altair is flanked by two fainter stars. In the north below Altair, about halfway up from the horizon, look for bright Deneb and brilliant Vega. These three stars – Altair, Deneb and Vega – form a giant triangle.

Deneb is also the tail of Cygnus the flying swan. Three stars form the body and wings of the swan. Three other stars form the long neck, stretching upwards into the triangle.

Further east is another geometric shape, a giant square with one bright star at each corner. This is the constellation

of Pegasus, the flying horse of ancient Greek myths. Below Pegasus and to the left, low in the north, stars form the shape of a letter “M” – the constellation Cassiopeia.

On the other side of Pegasus, high in the southeast, is the bright star Fomalhaut. The star Achernar, even brighter, is rising in the southeast.

Orionid Meteor Showers As the Earth goes around the sun, at times it travels through areas of dust and rocks in space. When these particles fall into the Earth’s atmosphere, they burn up, shining briefly for a moment. Look out for such meteors during October, especially on October 22 and 23, and especially between midnight and dawn.

There are also larger rocks, called asteroids, in space. Last month a small asteroid passed close to the Earth – closer than the moon. Last year, an asteroid exploded over Russia.

As the world becomes more interconnected, we are likely to hear of more asteroids close to Earth.

Moon, Oct 2014 Oct 1 – first quarter (‘half’ moon overhead at sunset). Oct 8 – full moon, rising in the east at sunset. Oct 15 – last quarter (‘half’ moon overhead at dawn).

Oct 23 – new moon; look for the slim crescent moon in the west on the 24th. Oct 31 – first quarter.

October Sun In Kenya in October, the sun rises and sets earlier each day.

By month’s end the sunrise in Nairobi is at 6:11 am, and the sunset at 6:21 pm.

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The recaptured Olive Thrush. PHOTO: T. IMBOMA

By E. Gichohi and D. Chesire “This is my home,” seemed to be what the Olive Thrush (Turdus olivaceus) ring number BB 3968 was communicating to the bird ringers during a recent ringing exercise at the Nairobi Museum grounds. The bird was recaptured 12 years after being ringed as a sub-adult by Henry Ndithia, a Research Scientist at the Ornithology section of the National Museums of Kenya, on 31st January 2002.

Since 2002, this Olive Thrush has been recaptured 4 other times and processed by Dominic Chesire twice in 2012, Kevin Gichuki in 2013 and Edwin Gichohi in 2014. Most of its body features seem to correlate with its age. Its wing length now stands at 113mm to its initial 105mm, and its weight that was 70 grams initially is currently 73 grams.

Other birds caught on this day include: African Pygmy Kingfisher, Singing Cisticola, Grey-capped Warbler, Bronze Sunbird, Red-billed Firefinch, Bronze Mannikin and Village Indigobird.

Ringing or Banding is a monitoring tool used by ornithologists across the globe. It involves using mist nets to capture birds that are then fitted with special metallic bands or plastic colour rings on their “legs” called tarsus. The birds are measured and then released.

Bird ringing therefore enables us to understand the life history of individual birds. It leads us into understanding life spans in different species of birds. We are also able to understand the migratory status of birds. For example, this Olive Thrush is really restricted to the National Museums grounds in Nairobi.

Other birds have been captured with rings from foreign countries, especially Western Europe and Eastern Europe in Kenya.

The public can help to report birds with rings. When one finds a bird with a ring, kindly report this to the National Museums of Kenya. But please don’t kill the birds.

In more advanced ringing exercises mainly for research purposes, birds can be fitted with radio transmitters and radio trackers, wing-tags, leg flags, among others. Bird ringing is done every Tuesday morning at the Museum grounds by experienced ringers. It is a training opportunity for keen birders who want to study more about birds. Ringing in Kenya is coordinated by the Ringing Scheme of eastern Africa, under the Ornithology section, Zoology department of the National Museums of Kenya. In order to learn more about birds in the hand and what ringing is about in detail, please visit Nature Kenya offices or the Ornithology section of the National Museums of Kenya.

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Also available: Safari hats, caps, community made products, honey, books, guides and bird checklists.

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Bird ringing every Tuesday morning (check with Ornithology section, National Museums) Wednesday Morning Birdwalks meet EVERY WEEK at 8:45 am at the back of the Nairobi Museum. The entrance is on Kipande Road.

Sunday Birdwatch (also called “Pot-luck Outings”) meet the THIRD Sunday of each month at 9:00 am at the same location. Bring lunch.

Mombasa Birdwalks Contact Marlene Reid through <donreid@ africaonline.co.ke> or call 0720-949195 or Doris Schaule <dorischaule@gmail.com> or call 0722277752 for more information.

Contact the office for information on other birdwalks in Kakamega, Kisumu, and other sites Ngong Forest walks - 1st and 3rd Saturday at 9.00 a.m. Contact Simon 0729-840715

Bird Ringing every second and fourth Wednesday of the month (weekly during migration May-June and Oct-Nov) Time: 06.00 - 11.00 am Location: A Rocha Kenya, Mwamba Field Study Centre, Beach Road Plot 28, Watamu Contact: Jaap Gijsbertsen (jaap.gijsbertsen@arocha.org) / www.arocha.org/kenya

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