Butterfly Pollination

Soldier Pansy

Butterflies are very active through the day and visit array of wildflowers. Butterflies are less competent than bees at moving pollen between plants. Highly perched on their long thin legs, they do not pick up much pollen on their bodies and lack specialized structures for collecting it.

                           Green banded Swallowtail

Butterflies search for nectar, their flight energy, and typically favours the flat, clustered flowers that provide a landing pad and abundant rewards. Butterflies have excellent vision but a weak sense of smell. Unlike bees, butterflies can see colour red well

                              Forest Mother of Pearl

                                     Soldier Commodore

Bird Ringing in Kenya

The Nairobi ringing group was initiated by Colin Jackson in 1994,in Ornithology department of National museums of Kenya, Bird ringing is a tool used by researchers to study birds,its involves  trapping birds using special nets
 called mist nets,

Extracting Birds from mist nets

 then carefully extracting and examining them,putting a light metal ring with a unique number on the tarsus,then ageing the bird(adult,juvenile,immature or sub adult),weight, among other biometrics,

Extracting Birds from mist nets

Ringing session

The Group has trained more than a 100 ornithologists in Kenya in bird ringing techniques,ageing, sexing and scoring moults

Ringing session

The Ringing is normally done every Tuesday at Nairobi National Museums grounds starting 8am until 11am,the grounds are rich and productive with many  bird species ringed every session

 Checking notes on Field Guide

an Indigo Bird

putting the metal Ring on a bird

 For more updates you may visit their website & Facebook page link below

Ringing Scheme of East Africa

Ringing Scheme of East Africa

All photos courtesy of Mwangi wa Gitau

Olive Ibis

Dark olive -green ibis with a long bushy crest,short slightly decurved red bill,and dull reddish legs:wing glossed bronze,green and rose
Singles,pairs and occasionally small flocks are uncommon,retiring and rarely seen
Most  charismatic and secretive Bird in East Africa,they spend the day feeding silently in remote forests from2000-3700m on Mt Kenya, the Aberdares ranges,Mt Kilimanjaro,East Usambara Mountains in Tanzania and Semliki forest in Western Uganda 

Ondiri Swamp - Only Quaking Bog in Kenya

The swamp is a kilometer from Kikuyu Town in Kiambu County, It was named Old Lake during colonial times but local Kikuyu people corrupted the phrase to Ondiri.  Ondiri swamp serves as an underground outlet to Lake Naivasha and that makes it a perennial bog. According to hydrologists, the swamp, which stands on a 30-hectare piece of land, is 10 kilometers deep. Birdlife is prolific on a good day you may record over 70 species from water birds such as Common Moorhen,

Common Moorhen

Black Crake, Little Bittern, Kingfishers, Herons, Water Rails, and other terrestrial species

White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher

Story of a woman, we met at the swamp who lives in Kikuyu town, she says she is terrified of the Ondiri Swamp. She says her mother told her and her many brothers and sisters a story when they were kids, that a cow stumbled into the swamp and got stuck in the mud. Some people tried to pull the cow out, but when it came free some enormous creature had bitten off half of it. The people decided to eat what was left but all of them got very sick and some of them died.

Hope the story is not actually true but that the legend of the terrible creature of the swamp (probably not a Hippo) lives on, it might be conservation's best hope!

Grey-capped Warbler

A bird-watching group

The swamp has its natural uniqueness. It is the only quaking bog (wet spongy and shaky ground that has no foundation) in the country and is the second deepest wetland on the continent after another in Doula, Cameroon. Ondiri Swamp is also a recreation joint as people, especially couples, walk along the breath-taking area enjoying the serenity of the place