At 6 am we are at the main gate leading into Nairobi National Park, in Lang’ata. It’s June 4 (one day before World Environment Day) escaping the city to the park for the Big Birding Day, after the huge success of the e-Bird Global big day.

In our car is young Sidney Shema who started birding in 2011. He manages the Kenya Bird Map project. We head out to our designated area in the 117-square kilometre park, the birding capital of the world with 600 species.

Jagi Gakunju, an environmental advocate plus keen birder at the wheel, points out a raptor, a Little Sparrowhawk. In a tall eucalyptus tree is an abandoned nest of a Verreaux’s Eagle Owl. It’s the largest African owl, standing at two feet. Its enormous pink eyelids would make any make-up artist muse.

“I love all birds,” says Shema. “But my favourites are the birds of prey (raptors). And among raptors, especially eagles. Eagles are the absolute kings (or queens, since females are bigger) of the sky. They are powerful apex predators playing a crucial role in keeping our ecosystems healthy. Raptors in general are top predators, but eagles are the top of the top.”

Kenya is one of the world's most eagle-rich countries with 22 species recorded. North America has only two species: the Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle.

EAGLE-EYED MAJESTY

By 4 pm when it’s time to exit the park, we have seen four of the big eagles: Long crested, Bateleur, Martial and the most powerful of all, ‘the leopard of the skies’ that is the Crowned Eagle by the abandoned Verreaux’s Eagle Owl nest, occupied by a pair of White-backed Vultures in the late afternoon.

At midday, Fleur Ng’weno calls out 40 vultures at the murram pits, “splashing in the water and sunbathing on the ground like tourists at a beach.”

White-backed Vultures are classified as Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and Nairobi National Park is a good place to see them. There was a pair of Lappet-faced Vultures, the red-headed vultures having flown away leaving the lounging White-backed Vultures.

In the 2018 ranking for countries on the Mongabay website, Colombia with 1,826 species has most bird species on Earth. Kenya in 13th with 1,058 species.

Brian Finch, the author of East African Bird Sounds, which features recordings of birdsong of more than 1,350 species of birds in East Africa, enthuses: “I have never come across a region with such an incredible variety of different habitats, all bird rich and with their own unique collections of species and all within a large bustling city.”

“Nairobi National Park has the largest number of bird species in Kenya and greatest variety of mammals for its size as well. On clear days it is the only park where both Mt Kenya and Mt Kilimanjaro can be seen from the same spot. It testifies to the uniqueness of Nairobi National Park and Kenya as a whole.”

For Pete Steward, a scientist at CIFOR-ICRAF (World Agroforestry), the event was a pilot study to see how it can be developed into a big day in collaboration with Friends of Nairobi National Park and the Kenya Wildlife Service.

“The ultimate aim is to raise the profile of birding in Kenya for ecotourism, for conservation and big game enthusiasts to take a look at the wealth of feathered friends and raise awareness so more people value our natural riches.”