In a recent tour to Saiwa Swamp National Park I managed to spot over 70 species of bird in a period of 48 hours. I stayed at the a self-catering Tree Top House which was quite unique. Just after I checked in, from the balcony, I had brilliant view of a female Sitatunga with a young baby!! That was the better way to begin birding and in a few minutes of observation I had recorded: Little Rush Warbler, Grey-crowned Crane and Chubb’s Cisticola. That evening I did a long walk to platform (Tower) 4 where I was lucky enough to see the male Sitatunga and Yellow-billed Duck. The next day I hiked to Tower 5 route, Acacia Nature trails and Bushback observatory tower. It will be unfair not to mentioned the great view I had of a group of endagred De Brazza monkey and the curious looking Colobus Monkey. It is indeed a great place to spend a weekend and as for birders and Twitchers, it is a must visit place.
Below is the list of birds I observed:
Bird List for Saiwa Swamp National Park seen on 28th to 30th October 2011
- Long-tailed Cormorant
- Little Bittern
- Goliath Heron
- Grey Heron
- Yellow-billed Stork
- Hamerkop
- Sacred Ibis
- Hadada Ibis
- Yellow-billed Duck
- Great Sparrow hawk
- African Hawk-Eagle
- Long-crested Eagle
- Grey-crowned Crane
- Spur-winged Lapwing
- Common Sandpiper
- Blue-spotted wood-Dove
- Tambourine Dove
- Ring-necked Dove
- Ross’s Turaco
- Black-and-white Cuckoo
- African Cuckoo
- Klaa’s Cuckoo
- African Emerald Cuckoo
- Blue-headed Coucal
- Woodland Kingfisher
- Malachite Kingfisher
- Lilac-breasted Roller
- Crowned Hornbill
- Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird
- Lesser Honeyguide
- Cape Wagtail
- African pied Wagtail
- Yellow-whiskered Greenbul
- Cabanis’s Greenbul
- White-headed Saw-wing
- White-starred Robin
- Grey-winged Robin-Chat
- African Thrush
- Little Rush Warbler
- Cinnamon Bracken Warbler
- Chubb’s Cisticola
- Tawny-flanked Prinia
- Grey-capped Warbler
- Grey-backed Camaroptera
- Black-collared Apalis
- African Dusky Flycatcher
- Swamp Flycatcher
- Black-throated Wattle-eye
- African Paradise-flycatcher
- Yellow White-eye
- Green-headed Sunbird
- Northern Double-collared Sunbird
- Green-throated Sunbird
- Ludhers’s Bush-shrike
- Pringle’s Puffback
- Marsh Tchagra
- Forked-tailed Drongo
- Eurasian Golden Oriole
- Lesser Blue-eared Starling
- Grey-headed Sparrow
- Grosbeak Weaver
- Northern Brown-throated Weaver
- Fan-tailed Widowbird
- Yellow-mantled Widowbird
- Black-bellied Firefinch
- African Firefinch
- Common Waxbill
- Black-crowned Waxbill
- Pin-tailed Whydah
- Thick-billed Seedeater
- Birding from Tree Top House in Saiwa Swamp National Park
Kenya Birding 