Kenya's Rift Valley includes four major national parks--Lake Nakuru, Lake Bogoria, Mount Longonot, and Hell's Gate--as well as many smaller areas that are outstanding for wildlife. Birds of Kenya's Rift Valley features the 320 bird species that are most likely to be encountered on safari in this world-famous region, which runs from Lake Baringo in the north to Lake Magadi in the south. Featuring over 500 stunning color photos, this beautiful guide breaks new ground with its eye-catching layout and easy-to-use format. The book follows a habitat-based approach and provides interesting information about the ecology and behaviors of each species. Birds of Kenya's Rift Valley avoids technical jargon in the species descriptions, which makes the guide easily accessible to anyone. With it, you will be identifying birds in no time.

About this book 9 The geography of Kenya's Rift Valley 13 Lakes and marsh 14 Up in the air 16 Birds of prey 17 Grassland and open areas 18 Woodland, scrub & garden 20 Nightbirds 22 Maps of the Rift Valley 23 BIRDS OF LAKE AND MARSH Pelicans - Great White and Pink-backed Pelicans 26 Darter and cormorants - African Darter and Reed and Great Cormorants 28 Egrets - Yellow-billed, Little and Great White Egrets 30 Small herons - Cattle Egret and Squacco and Striated Herons 32 Grey herons - Black-crowned Night-heron and Grey and Black-headed Herons 34 Dark herons and Hamerkop - Goliath and Purple Herons and Hamerkop 36 Dark storks - Abdim's, Black and African Open-billed Storks 38 White storks - Saddle-billed, White and Yellow-billed Storks 40 Spoonbill and Marabou - African Spoonbill and Marabou Stork 42 Flamingos - Greater and Lesser Flamingos 44 Ibises - Sacred, Glossy and Hadada Ibises 46 Crane and whistling ducks - Grey Crowned Crane and Fulvous and White-faced Whistling Ducks 48 Geese - Spur-winged and Egyptian Goose and Knob-billed Duck 50 Ducks: 1 - Cape, Hottentot and Red-billed Teal 52 Ducks: 2 - Southern Pochard, Northern Shoveler and Yellow-billed Duck 54 Grebe, coot and moorhen - Little Grebe, Red-knobbed Coot and Common Moorhen 56 Gallinule, crake and jacana - Purple Swamphen, Black Crake and African Jacana 58 Ruff, painted-snipe and snipe - Ruff, Greater Painted-snipe and Common Snipe 60 Avocet, stilt and godwit - Pied Avocet, Black-winged Stilt and Black-tailed Godwit 62 Thick-knees - Spotted, Water and Senegal Thick-knees 64 Small plovers - Chestnut-banded, Three-banded, Kittlitz's and Common Ringed Plovers 66 Sandpipers - Wood, Common and Green Sandpipers 68 Waders - Little Stint, Common Greenshank and Marsh Sandpiper 70 Plovers - Blacksmith, Crowned and Spur-winged Plovers 72 Plover and gull - African Wattled Plover and Grey-headed Gull 74 Terns - White-winged Black, Gull-billed and Whiskered Terns 76 Kingfishers - Malachite, Giant and Pied Kingfishers 78 Wagtails - Yellow, Mountain and African Pied Wagtails 80 UP IN THE AIR Dark-rumped swifts - Mottled, African Palm, Alpine, Common and Nyanza Swifts 82 White-rumped swifts - Little, Horus and White-rumped Swifts 84 Resident swallows - Mosque , Red-rumped, Lesser Striped and Wire-tailed Swallows 86 Swallows and martins - Barn Swallow and Plain, Banded and Rock Martins 88 BIRD OF PREY Vultures - Ruppell's, White-backed, Hooded and Lappet-faced Vultures 90 Vultures in flight - all species for comparison plus Verreaux's Eagle 92 Large pied eagles and buzzard - Martial and African Fish Eagles and Augur Buzzard 94 Large dark eagles - Verreaux's, Steppe and Tawny Eagles 96 Medium-sized brown raptors - Black Kite, Common Buzzard and Long-crested Eagle 98 Raptors in flight - all large species for comparison 100 Harriers - Pallid, Montagu's and Western Marsh Harriers 102 Goshawk, Bateleur and Harrier Hawk - Dark Chanting Goshawk, Bateleur and African Harrier Hawk 104 Small pale raptors - Gabar Goshawk, - African Black-shouldered Kite and Pygmy Falcon 106 Falcons - Eurasian Hobby, Lanner Falcon and Common Kestrel 108 BIRDS OF GRASSLAND AND OPEN AREAS Ostrich and Southern Ground Hornbill - Ostrich and Southern Ground Hornbill 110 Bustard and gamebirds - Black-bellied Bustard, Yellow-necked Spurfowl and Helmeted Guineafowl 112 Coursers and plover - Heuglin's and Temminck's Coursers and Black-headed Plover 114 Larks - Rufous-naped, Red-capped and Pink-breasted Larks 116 Lark, pipit and longclaw - Fischer's Sparrow Lark, Grassland Pipit and Yellow-throated Longclaw 118 Resident chats - Northern Anteater Chat and Capped and Abyssinian Wheatears 120 Migrant chats - Northern and Pied Wheatears and Whinchat 122 Crows - Cape Rook, Pied Crow and Fan-tailed Raven 124 Widowbirds - Long-tailed and Red-collared Widowbirds 126 Widowbird and bishops - Jackson's Widowbird and Northern Red and Yellow Bishops 128 Cisticolas and Quailfinch - Winding, Stout and Desert Cisticolas and African Quailfinch 130 BIRDS OF WOODS, SCRUB AND GARDEN Francolins - Scaly, Crested and Hildebrandt's Francolins 132 Pigeons and doves - Laughing Dove and Speckled and African Olive Pigeons 134 'Collared' doves - African Mourning, Red-eyed and Ring-necked Doves 136 Namaqua and wood doves - Namaqua and Blue-spotted and Emerald-spotted Wood Doves 138 Green pigeon and parrots - African Green Pigeon, Meyer's Parrot and hybrid lovebird 140 Large cuckoos and relatives - Red-chested Cuckoo, White-browed Coucal and White-bellied Go-away-bird 142 BIRDS OF WOODLAND, SCRUB AND GARDEN (continued) Green cuckoos and wood-hoopoe - Klaas's and Diederik Cuckoos and Green Wood-hoopoe 144 Hoopoe and mousebirds - Hoopoe and Blue-naped and Speckled Mousebirds 146 Kingfishers - Striped, Woodland and Grey-headed Kingfishers 148 Bee-eaters: 1 - White-throated, Blue-cheeked and Eurasian Bee-eaters 150 Bee-eaters: 2 - White-fronted, Cinnamon-chested and Little Bee-eaters 152 Rollers - Rufous-crowned, Lilac-breasted and Eurasian Rollers 154 Hornbills: 1 - Von der Decken's, Jackson's and Red-billed Hornbills 156 Hornbills: 2 - Hemprich's, Eastern Yellow-billed and African Grey Hornbills 158 Barbets: 1 - Red-and-yellow, D'Arnaud's and Red-fronted Barbets 160 Barbets: 2 - White-headed and Spot-flanked Barbets and Red-fronted Tinkerbird 162 Honeyguides and woodpecker - Lesser and Greater Honeyguides and African Grey Woodpecker 164 Woodpeckers - Nubian, Cardinal and Bearded Woodpeckers 166 Babblers - Black-lored, Arrow-marked and Brown Babblers and Rufous Chatterer 168 Bulbul, thrush and scrub robin - Common Bulbul, Spotted Palm Thrush and White-browed Scrub Robin 170 Colourful chats - Common and Little Rock Thrushes and Mocking Cliff Chat 172 Thrush and robin chats - Olive Thrush and White-browed and Cape Robin Chats 174 Tchagras and Brubru - Brown-crowned and Three-streaked Tchagras and Brubru 176 White-headed 'shrikes' - Grey-crested and White Helmetshrikes and Northern White-crowned Shrike 178 Shrikes - Red-backed Shrike and Grey-backed and Common Fiscals 180 Oriole and bushshrikes - Black-headed Oriole and Grey-headed and Sulphur-breasted Bushshrike 182 Cuckooshrike, boubou and puffback - Black Cuckooshrike, Tropical Boubou and Black-backed Puffback 184 Black birds of woodland edge - Common Drongo, Slate-coloured Boubou and Northern Black Flycatcher 186 Attractive flycatchers of woods and gardens - White-eyed Slaty and African Paradise Flycatchers 188 Nondescript flycatchers - Spotted, Pale and African Grey Flycatchers 190 Warblers and prinia - Rattling Cisticola, Grey Wren Warbler and Tawny-flanked Prinia 192 Green warblers - Grey-backed Camaroptera, Yellow-breasted Apalis and Grey-capped Warbler 194 Crombec and warblers - Northern Crombec and Red-fronted and Buff-bellied Warblers 196 Batis, tit and white-eye - Chin-spot Batis, White-bellied Tit and African Yellow White-eye 198 Starlings and oxpecker - Ruppell's and Wattled Starlings and Red-billed Oxpecker 200 Starlings - Greater Blue-eared, Red-winged and Bristle-crowned Starlings 202 Brightly coloured starlings - Superb, Hildebrandt's and Violet-backed Starlings 204 Sunbirds: 1 - Variable, Eastern Violet-backed, and Collared Sunbirds 206 Sunbirds: 2 - Marico, Scarlet-chested and Amethyst Sunbirds 208 Long-tailed sunbirds - Bronze, Tacazze and Beautiful Sunbirds 210 Sparrows - House, Kenya Rufous and Grey-headed Sparrows 212 Petronia and small brown weavers - Yellow-spotted Petronia and Speckle-fronted and Grey-capped Social Weavers 214 Buffalo and sparrow weavers - White-billed and White-headed Buffalo Weavers and White-browed Sparrow Weaver 216 Yellow weavers: 1 - Village , Speke's and Lesser Masked Weavers 218 Yellow weavers: 2 - Northern Masked, Little and Golden-backed Weavers 220 Yellow weavers: 3 - Holub's Golden, Spectacled and Black-necked Weavers 222 Grosbeak and yellow weavers: 4 - Grosbeak, Vitelline Masked and Baglafecht Weavers 224 Waxbills - Common, Crimson-rumped and Black-cheeked Waxbills 226 Whydah and cordon-bleus - Pin-tailed Whydah and Red-cheeked and Blue-capped Cordon-bleus 228 Waxbills and whydah - Green-winged Pytilia, Bronze Mannikin and Eastern Paradise Whydah 230 Waxbills and indigobird - Purple Grenadier, Red-billed Firefinch and Village Indigobird 232 Canaries - African Citril and Brimstone and White-bellied Canaries 234 Buntings and seedeater - Cinnamon-breasted and Golden-breasted Buntings and Streaky Seedeater 236 NIGHT BIRDS Nightjar and owls - Slender-tailed Nightjar and Barn and African Wood Owls 238 Small owls - African Scops and Northern White-faced Scops Owls and Pearl-spotted Owlet 240 Eagle owls - Spotted, Verreaux's and Greyish Eagle Owls 242 Further reading and useful resources 244 Acknowledgements 245 Photographic credits 246 Scientific names of the bird species included in this book 247 Index 252 Short Index inside back cover