The adventure of bird watching

Peter Muiruri discovered that right within the city of Nairobi is abundant birdlife. He followed their twitter to the Nairobi National Park

Nairobi National Park conjures up images of big game with tourists inching closer to take photographs with the city as the backdrop. Not many of them give thought to the fascinating birdlife that abounds inside the park.

Few give more than a casual glance to birds while others consider them a nuisance. For Ben Mugambi, however, bird watching is literally a matter of life and death and is the difference between feeding his family and sleeping on an empty stomach. The 33-year-old is a tour operator and a guide specialising in bird watching through his small outfit known as Ben’s Ecological Safaris.

Kenya has eleven per cent of the world’s bird population and 60 per cent of East Africa’s, with Nairobi being perfectly located for bird watching. The city lies between the Aberdares, Mt Kenya and Mt Kilimanjaro -— three landmarks that create a perfect climate for birds to thrive.

While other tour operators currently head to the world-famous Masai Mara Game Reserve for the annual wildebeest migration, I join Mugambi in Nairobi National Park where we spend a whole afternoon looking up the trees, combing the bushes and peering into crevices all in an effort to locate and identify as many feathered creatures as possible.

As we drive into the park, I realise that Mugambi is a walking encyclopaedia on birds and quickly take out a pen and notebook so as not to miss any descriptive information from this self-acclaimed bird whisperer.

"You cannot write and enjoy bird watching at the same time. We shall take a break and discuss what we have seen," he quickly admonishes me, comparing bird watching to the game of golf where patience and deep concentration are essential.

Little Bee Eater

Our first stop is the ivory burning site where Mugambi gives us our initial ornithology lessons.

"Apart from having good eyesight, a pair of binoculars is a must for any serious birder. Tourists without it miss excellent opportunities in spotting some of our rare birds," he says.

However, having a pair of binoculars does not guarantee that one will spot birds easily; they must also be used well.

"Some people just take out the binoculars and place them over their eyes and hope to see something but get disappointed. Binoculars must be adjusted properly to suit ones eyesight since there are different settings for people who wear eyeglasses and those who don’t," says Mugambi as he demonstrates to our small group how such settings are done.

"One should actually spot the bird first with the eyes and then use binoculars to magnify the bird for closer scrutiny."

I use this brief interlude to find out why the father of two who had initially wanted to become a pilot has dedicated the last 15 years of his life to bird watching.

"I loved nature and a sense of adventure as a young boy. However, it was in college while doing tour guiding and administration that I gave serious thought to pursuing ornithology as a career."

Today, Mugambi can easily identify 800 out of 1,100 bird species found in Kenya.

As we speak, he notices a small bird about 20 metres away.

"That is the Little Bee Eater, which has some small bristles in the mouth that can sense a bee hovering nearby. It is a very intelligent bird that knows how to remove the bee sting by rubbing the insect against a tree before swallowing."

Eco-friendly mechanisms

We stop the vehicle near a dam where we discover some bird activity that would normally go unnoticed by a casual observer. A Pied Kingfisher is majestically hovering over the water in readiness for a fishing dive. A hammerkop, aptly named after its hammer shaped head, keeps vigil near the water’s edge looking for some wandering frogs. I also get to know the name of a bird regular in our backyard; the white-eyed Slaty Flycatcher.

On a nearby tree, an Augar Buzzard, completely camouflaged by the brown tree trunk, watches the activities below with keen interest. This big bird of prey can actually detect a small trail left by a rodent and follow it up to the small creature’s hideout.

In the midst of all this, a road rehabilitation project inside the park almost spoils the party. The mere site of heavy machinery here puts Mugambi on edge.

"Human activities in a wildlife conservation area greatly disturbs the birds. Authorities need to come up with more eco-friendly mechanisms of doing such work that will interfere little with the ecosystem," says Mugambi as a tractor spews black smoke in the air much to our — and the bird’s — discomfort.

Bird’s eye view

We take another deserved break at the Impala Lookout where we literally have a bird’s eye view of the park. It is time to catch up with Mugambi’s ever captivating narration on birdlife. What makes a good bird watcher? I ask him as we sip a cup of coffee.

"Like a human detective who looks for a variety of clues in order to nail down a suspect, a serious birder must know the common habitat of a certain bird as well as its behaviour, such as flight pattern and the distinctive call. The size, shape and colour patterns of the bird helps one identify the bird and place it in the right category," he reveals.

Owing to his mastery of bird behaviour, serious bird watchers from around the world come to him seeking his help in searching and identifying the avian creatures.

"Some foreign visitors come to me with a list of birds they want see. I must satisfy their curiosity knowing they have sacrificed a lot of money and time to seek my services. I even had to go for voice projection lessons so as to improve my narrative qualities."

To assist him in the search, Mugambi carries a small recorder with a variety of bird calls that he uses to lure certain birds that try to play hard to get.

"I play the voice recording if I know that a certain bird is in the vicinity. The bird interprets the call as coming from another bird, perhaps a female of the same species, and comes closer to the voice only to learn too late that it has been duped," says Mugambi as we watch a Baglafetch Weaver bird that has been fooled by one such recorded call.

Mugambi and his ilk are, however a worried lot as the drastic loss of bird habitat in East Africa continues to cast a dark shadow.

"Population increase means more and more land is now being used for food production with farmers using pesticides that are then ingested by birds with grave consequences. The artificial magnetic fields created by the many telephone boosters also confuse the homing instincts of migratory birds. There is also the age old custom where some birds such as owls are killed by some communities who feel they bring about bad omens."

Despite the odds, Mugambi is not about to hang up his binoculars yet.

"I would rather have birds than dogs for security. Birds are able to make enough noise and warn me of danger without being compromised. They also feed on certain dangerous creatures like spiders and other insects that harm our crops," he says.

As I leave the park and gaze at the gorgeous glow of the setting sun, I cannot help but wonder if the abundant birdlife that most of us take for granted will be there for future generations to enjoy.