....a few minutes later on 25th Nov at #nguliaringing... #birdringing #birds #TsavoWest #Ngulia #KWS

Dawn yesterday on the last morning at #nguliaringing for 2025... #birdringing #birds #kws #ngulia #TsavoWest

Morning of 25th Nov. All quiet at Ngulia at 3:30am. No mist. Night nets up for nightjars and 1 Euro, 2 Donaldson-Smiths and 1 Dusky ringed so far. Eles at the waterhole... #nguliaringing #birdringing #birds #ngulia #TsavoWest #kws

The Star of the Show for today - caught by Adrian & a beaut of a tiny Owlet is the Pearl-spotted. Also lots of discussion about working out the age of #birds from plumage features. Pictured are shots of Little Swift wing. So much to learn! #nguliaringing #birdringing #ngulia #TsavoWest #lws

It's time to wrap up at #nguliaringing for another year... bush nets are down & packed away, just lamps & book 1 still awaiting hoped for mist overnight - & #birds. Over 8,000 ringed this year w several new species & interesting data. Pearl-spotted Owlet today was the star. #birdringing #kws

Last morning at #nguliaringing for 2025. No mist at night though 11 nightjars caught + 1 Marsh W, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Sprosser. Hoping for a splash of colour or something unusual... #birds #KWS #birdringing #TsavoWest #Ngulia

Totals 23rd #birds: Sc 519 Ll 103 Ap 251 Bn Sw 116 Irania 40 Eu Ntjr 5 Rbk Sh 17 Trk Sh 12 Upch W 25 Rfs Bcht 17 Spt Fly 7 Brrd W 16 Wllw W 12 Rvr W 5 Ntgle 4 Olv T W 13 E Olvcs W 9 Trippt 2 Gdn W 2 Isab Whtr 1 Pd Whtr 1 Rck Th 3 Gldn Or 1 Bsra RW 2 Rdrmp Sw 1 Eu Rllr 2 #nguliaringing #birdringing

The mist produced some good results for 23rd despite heavy rain and dim lights. Total caught at #nguliaringing was 1,186 w Whitethroat yet again dominating at c.50% of catch. Highlight was 3rd Euro Red-rumped Swallow for Kenya caught randomly in swallow nets late a.m.! #birdringing #birds #TsavoWest

2nd last full morning ringing at #nguliaringing and we've got mist!! ...and rain... hoping the mist thickens and the #birds pour in... #ngulia #KWS #birding #birdringing #TsavoWest

As predicted, a quiet day for Palearctic #birds at #nguliaringing - just 285 ringed of which 93 were Swallows. However, Afros really performed with star of the show being the 1st ever VIOLET WOOD-HOOPOE ringed at #Ngulia! Also Cinnamon-breasted Bunting (5th), Greater Honeyguide (20th). #birdringing

#nguliaringing #birds #ngulia #KWS #TsavoWest the video that didn't load this morning...

Dawn came cool and w low cloud at #nguliaringing but not low enough to qualify as mist - as it had been all night. 15 nightjars caught from 2am incl Dusky, Don-Smiths, Plain & Euro.

A graph of the top 3 species caught at #NguliaRinging (Marsh Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Sprosser / Thrush Nightingale) since the start of the project in 1969. We have a few days to go this year, but the % to date for this year (51%) is vastly different to previous years (av 22%). #birdringing #KWS

Totals for the surprise 1049 #birds on 21st: Sc 666 Ll 84 Ap 93 Brn Sw 32 Irania 51 Euro Ntjr 11 Rdbk Sh 8 Turk Sh 7 Upch W 13 Rfs Bshcht 19 Spot Fly 16 Brrd W 9 Willow W 8 Rvr W 2 Nghtgle 6 Olv Tree W 9 E Olvcs W 9 Trippt 3 Gdn W 1 N Whtear 1 Rck Th 1 #nguliaringing #birds #birdringing #KWS

The most exciting thing with #birdringing is having one of your birds reported from somewhere far away. In Oct we heard of a Marsh Warbler ring# XB00652, ringed 7/12/2024 at #Ngulia & re-captured on 19/7/2025 at #Hornborgasjön, Västergötland, Sweden! (7,133 km & 7 months, 11 days). #nguliaringing

Well... that was a surprise! It felt quiet & there was no stress but final day total was 1,050! And swallow nets are still open. No dull ring yet & plenty of discussion on ringing techniques & ageing! #nguliaringing #birds #birdringing #KWS #TsavoWest #ngulia

Night time ringing is a trademark of #nguliaringing - if the mist comes in early we can start at 11pm. Today nets were up for nightjars (15 of 3 spp ringed) at 01:30 w low cloud overhead which became mist at 04:50 & pulled in small #birds. 280 ringed by dawn. #birdringing #KWS #TsavoWest #ngulia

Palearctic total so far: 4,482. Afro spp continue to trickle in - 14th ever Spotted Morning (Palm) Thrush the star. Fantastic movement of Amur Falcons (>300) & Euro Rollers (>500) on 21st; & 25+ Steppe Eagle, 5 Steppe Buzzard, Lesser & Common Kestrel #nguliaringing #birds #birdringing #TsavoWest

Final day total for 20/11: 875 Sc 410 Ll 128 Ap 115 Brn Sw 57 Irania 48 Euro Ntjr 15 Rdbk Sh 15 Turk Sh 12 Upch W 11 Rfs Bsh Cht 11 Spot Fly 9 Brrd W 7 Willow W 7 Rvr W 6 Nghtgle 6 Olv Tree W 6 E Olvcs W 4 Trippt 3 Hse Mtn 2 Euro Rllr 1 Gldn Orle 1 Rck Th 1 #nguliaringing #birds #birdringing #KWS

800+ #birds ringed this morning at #nguliaringing. Felt quiet compared to yesterday but still good. Rock Thrush, Golden Oriole, 12+ nightjars... and LOTS of Whitethroats still. Celebrated 57 years of ringing w a huge cake! #birdringing #ngulia #KWS #TsavoWest #celebration

A reasonable night at #nguliaringing with just over 200 #birds ringed but good numbers of nightjars incl Dusky, Donaldson-Smiths, Plain and Euro. Quieter 1st round of nets... #ngulia #birdringing #KWS #tsavowest

Another highlight at #nguliaringing today was a magnificent passage of Eurasian Rollers... we counted 1,014 #birds but know we missed some. Potentially 1,200+ went through in about 2 hours. Fantastic sight! 10 Steppe Eagle, 1 Monty Harrier too. #visiblemigration #birdmigration #ngulia #KWS

Nets up at 2:30am for nightjars & mist arrived 5 mins later! 280 #birds ringed by dawn incl 5 nighjars; a busy though steady morning & 2 ringing tables started by 6:30am and kept going til 11am. Final total was 1,706 w record day catch of Whitethroats: 1,017! #nguliaringing #birdringing #KWS #ngulia

A very good night & morning at #nguliaringing! Mist came in & brought down #birds... final rough tally is c.1,600 migrants c.50 Afros ringed. 2nd Basra of '25, 17th Yellow Wagtail & almost a Euro Roller of which a magnificent >1,000 counted moving through!. #birdringing #KWM

Finally the weather is beginning to happen at #nguliaringing. Another misty night and probably over 1,000 caught... #birds #birdringing #KWS ##tsavowest #ngulia

The magic DID happen! Dawn came grey & misty but the bush was alive with #birds that emerged slowly such that the 7am round was almost as big as 6am. Final tally 993 ringed incl first Basra Reed, River and Garden Warblers; the star was a beaut Common Redstart (15th ever). #nguliaringing #birdringing

The #nguliaringing mist is trying to happen... 01:30hrs nets were put up and a spanking ad male Irania went in before the net was fully up... but slow. 12 birds by 2am. Freckled Nightjar went over & Green Sand also calling. Is the magic beginning?! #birds #Ngulia #KWS #tsavowest

00:30hrs at #nguliaringing and there is a mist drifting just above the tree level... a few birds flying around...but very few and within 10 mins the mist lifted to about 50m height and all #birds disappeared... will it happen properly tonight?! #birdringing #birdmigration #KWS #ngulia

It is 10 years since David Pearson was last at Ngulia. David pioneered and ran the #nguliaringing bird migration project here with Graeme Backhurst from 1970. He was a leading figure in East African ornithology & key to much of our knowledge on EA #birds. He sadly died in 2017 but we are delighted

It was indeed better for the dawn catch though still only just over 100 migrants and c40 Afros. More diversity: 1st Upcher's Wblr, a Rock Thrush, Wood Sand in swallow net (1st since 2005!), 3rd Little Sparrowhawk this yr & a Common Buttonquail. Totals to follow #birds #birdringing #TsavoWest #ngulia

A starlit night meant only avid nightjar trappers stayed up & caught 5 Eurasian. But at 04:30hrs a beautiful mist rolled in... a Whitethroat & Sprosser were caught in the nightjar net & hopes were higher for the bush nets.. #birds #nguliaringing #birdringing #ngulia #KWS #TsavoWest

The mist has been atrocious for catching #birds but we've had good visible migration. A stream of Steppe Eagles w several Booted & Lesser Spotted, Common Buzzard, Honey Buzzard, Common Kestrel, a few Amur Falcons, Grasshopper Buzzard, a Euro Sparrowhawk & Euro Rollers. #nguliaringing #birding #KWS

Once again no mist last night at #nguliaringing; dawn saw 25 ringers standing chatting by empty nets. The Swallows turned up a bit to save the day with 131 ringed by 4pm when nets closed; 38 other migrant #birds incl 1 Olivaceous, 1 Olive-tree Warbler & a Euro Golden Oriole; best was a retrap female

A mistress night at #nguliaringing w only a thin layer of cloud meant dawn saw only 9 migrant #birds caught of which 5 were Tree Pipits brought in by a tape lure! But then 255 Swallows from 2 nets. A 2nd Little Sparrowhawk, Cardinal Woodpecker & a finger-shredding Orange-bellied Parrot #birdringing

A highlight for yesterday's session was a retrap Common Nightingale ringed here in Nov 2022. Probably the first we've ever retrapped in a subsequent year. It was of the race africana that breeds in north Africa up to Iran. #nguliaringing #ngulia #kws #TsavoWest #birdringing #birds

Mist came in c.2am but never thickened enough to bring down many birds. Only 9 ringed by dawn(!) Large herd of buffalo watching the ringers open nets at dawn... BUT only 102 total for the day incl 21 Swallows; only 1 Marsh Wblr(!), 33 Lls & 30 Sc; 1st Olive-tree #nguliaringing #KWS #birds #TsavoWest

As we opened nets at 5:40am a light rain started... which v soon turned into solid rain & by 5:55am nets were closed & only opened again at 8:30am. 129 migrant #birds ringed in total; 17 Afros - but quality rather than quantity: the 1st Red-naped Bush Shrike caught since 1995! #birdringing #ngulia

A slow night at #nguliaringing - 7 passerine but 13 Euro Nightjars, 2 Plain and the first Slender-tailed for several years. Mist never really came in. Nets down at 5:10. Green Sandpiper calling several times. V quiet otherwise. #birdringing #ngulia #KWS #TsavoWest

2a.m. Night nets are up at #nguliaringing for the first time - mist hasn't really come in yet but is threatening to... heavy rain shower at dinner was positive & so long as the buffalo don't come too close we'll catch a few #birds. Plain + Donaldson-Smiths Nightjars already caught. #KWS #ringing

No true mist overnight, just low cloud but enough to bring down a few migrants for dawn. 119 pals ringed &c.30 Afros. V few Aps as expected, many Sc, quite a few Turkestan Shrikes, 3 Olivaceous Wblrs, Rufous Bush Chat; Af Golden Oriole was the Afro highlight. #nguliaringing #tsavowest #KWS #birds

Travelling through Addis last night I was put up in a hotel BUT had my #binoculars confiscated for 'security' reasons! But the endemic Brown-rumped Canary (what a dire name!) was so tame I could just use my phone...! #birds #addBirder #addisababa #birding #airportbirding #Ethiopia

The #nguliaringing project has been studying #migrantbirds for >55 years producing what must be one of the leading #bird migration datasets in Africa with >600,000 #birds ringed. We'll be posting daily updates on bsky for those keen to follow the ringing & hopefully in the birds profile #addBirder

It's the time of year again when a bunch of ringers descend on #ngulialodge in #tsavowest national park to catch and ring 1000s of migrant #birds on their way south from Europe & Asia to non-breeding grounds in #Africa. We start on 11th Nov for 2 weeks & we'll be posting updates here. #nguliaringing

Incoming tide meant fly-by of #waders: 105 Crab-plover, 22 Grey #Plover, 2 Euro Curlew, only 2 Whimbrel so far but a Eu Oystercatcher has clearly stayed the northern summer. 7 Openbill Storks roosting in mangroves is unusual; pair of Mottled Spinetail not common for #ShortBeachBirds

Did you know bees and butterflies aren't the only pollinators? 🐝🦋 Beetles, bats, hummingbirds, ants, and even some spiders help plants thrive! 🐜🪲🦇 We work to protect this diversity at the Stenis Tract in Austin, TX, shown in this collage by 2024–25 intern Ian Massey.

The #tern colony on Whale Island in #Watamu marine national park has picked up in activity. We visited to count nests and estimated 600 Roseate Tern nests. No other species nesting but 50 Lesser & 92 Brown Noddy counted + 8 Sooty Tern. Caught & ringed 5 Brown Noddy w hand held net - stunning #birds

Quieter morning for #ShortBeachBirds - high tide so few #waders other than flock of 13 Greenshank and 50 Crab-plovers flushed from roost around the headland. A lone Great Sparrowhawk crossed the creek low over the water & the Roseate Terns have built up to c.3000 over Whale Island. #birds #birding

Fairly quiet for #ShortBeachBirds though Striped Kingfisher calling from across the creek + tern colony on Whale Island still active - Roseates & Brown Noddy visible thru the scope. 1st Woolly-necked Stork in a few weeks. Timing not good for wader flyby. #birds #terns #birding #watamu #waders

Has been a privilege to host a group of #biology & #environmental #science students from @harvard.edu at the A Rocha centre here in #Watamu. Stimulating conversations, questions, mature observations & being authentic have defined them - karibu tena! Welcome back! #fieldstudies #university

Stunning morning at Short Beach in #Watamu & once again surprises... 16 Yellow-billed Egret (v infrequent here), a Black Heron doing his umbrella trick, 15 Reed Cormorant & a new species for here, a Northern Crombec in the salicornia beside me! #ShortBeachBirds #birds #birding #atlassing