Forest Mother of Pearl

Salamis parhassus-50mm
Among Africa's loveliest and most memorable butterflies,these large insects have a wingspan of 80-95mm.The upper sides of the wings are a shining greenish-white,with oily violet reflections.The undersides are more muted

At rest,clinging to underside of foliage in the shade,they look like leaves

Habits &Habitat:Fairly common in forest and woodland habitats,

Can be very abundant seasonally,they fly with a sailing motion,often noticed in flight on sunny days,when their moving wings provide bursts of colour,

They frequently settle on the ground to mud -puddle.

Common Teal Sightings in Thika Sewage Treatment Ponds

Yesterday 17th January 2016 during the Water Bird counts organized by National Museums of Kenya,Ornithology Department and other lead agencies, we spotted  Common Teal(green-winged Teal) in one of the ponds,a small dabbling duck little larger than a Hottentot Teal,with a rather steep forehead and a short bill,

A Male Common Teal 

Male in breeding plumage has chestnut head with a buff -boarded iridescent green band from lores to nape:body greyish with white horizontal line along side and a creamy under tail coverts noticeable at a distance 

Habits- singles or small groups associate with other waterfowl,they feed waterside vegetation.Regular paleartic migrant in small numbers November to March mainly above 1400m on small ponds,streams and lakeshores in and west of Rift valley, including Lake Turkana

Together with Yellow-billed Ducks

In the exercise other water birds were also seen and recorded

   

Northern Pintail

Ruff

White faced whistling Duck

Sacred Ibis

Photos credit  @Mwangi wa Gitau

Oryx Antelope Facts

The elegant Oryx belongs to the group one of the uncommon mammals on earth. The Oryx is so much adapted to the arid and harshly hot landscape that its ability to go on without water for a prolonged period can only be rivaled by that of the camel. Oryx is among the four antelope species of the genus Oryx. Out of the four Oryx species, three can be found in the arid regions of Africa and the fourth species is a resident of the Arabian Peninsula. Oryx has amazing long spiky horns with a neck and mane resembling that of a horse. They have a very supple muscular body structure with distinct black outlines against the white face. Their long horns are almost straight dark markings on the legs During the ritualistic display of dominance, these antelopes show their distinctive features to exhibit their long ringed horns that can reach up to 1500 mm in length.