A DAY OUT WITH THE BIRDS :by Esther Moraa

On a typical day, one would not miss  to spot the white rumped swift, commonly referred to as miniature ‘jet fighter’ on the skyline. It is amazing how they glide in the sky in numbers without colliding.  

This reminds me of the marabou stork 

often referred to as ’Boeing 747’ by the locals due to the length of its wings and its style of landing and taking off. These birds migrate from the wild to the city due to ease availability of garbage heaps that provide them with food, where they compete with the pied crow and black kite.

 

Before an alarm goes on every morning, one can never ignore the laughing dove

 as it flaps making it’s loud continuous hum as if reminding you to wake up, just like in the jungle, one can not miss to spot the speckled dove and the ring necked dove that have colonized the sky.

However, with the growth of urban centers, infrastructure comes up every day at the expense of biodiversity which often leads to complains by city dwellers of birds messing their walls. Question is, if their home has been invaded by urbanization, where do should these birds find shelter?

Ever asked yourself why you find beautiful scenes of birds at the leafy suburbs? One appreciates the beauty when watching birds like the love

 bridgessun bird, and the ever majestic purple breasted sunbird, jump from one hibiscus flower to the lantana camara seeking out the little available nectar, the golden breast sterling and the greater blue eared sterling chasing after a harmless grasshopper, the beauty they display makes the environment so full of life.

 Conversely, the ongoing construction in the cities has left many foundations uncompleted leading to occurrences of wetlands. The dug up foundations get filled with water, creating room for aquatic plants like the water hyacinth, water lilies and the papyrus reeds to grow. Birds that love submerging in the water like the hammer kop

 , take this opportunity to search for tadpoles and fish. The hadada ibis, one of Africa’s best bird known to produce loud sounds, and the sacred ibises will be seen busy searching for the elusive worms and snails at the wetlands.

 

Bird watching is an interesting activity that one could engage in as a hobby,  a career (bird guide) or as a researcher (ornithologist). Looking at the power lines around the city, one would not fail to spot a lonely fiscal shrike or a long tailed fiscal that is ready to pounce on an unsuspecting grasshopper. 

 An African pied wag tail with it’s fascinating up and down movement or the black headed weaver and rofous sparrow which live near human habitation where they construct their nests to attract the females on the selected tree species like the Naivasha acacia will not also miss on sight. These birds make the most noise of all the bird species and construct their nests on one side of a tree.

All in all, for us to retain these beautiful scenes, let us conserve our environment lest we loose our .beloved gem!