It appears as though I have always been a birder at heart. In 2007 I attended a field school through Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. Koobi Fora Field School is a paleoanthropological and archeological field school that takes place every summer in the famous UNESCO World Heritage Site of Koobi Fora. Koobi Fora is a sedimentary basin and a world famous fossil repository with dozens of spectacular fossil finds pertaining to the evolution of humans. Some of the oldest finds are around 4 million years old and exhibit material attributed to Australopithecus. Early Homo, Homo erectus, and even more recent sites from the Holocene can be found here as well.
The two weeks were spent on the Laikipia Plateau in central Kenya studying ecology in a moist savannah environment. This was a time for the students to ascertain, as an analog, what life was like for our early ancestors. This was a time for safari and I saw TONS of birds. To be specific, our safaris took place at the Sousian Ranch, a privately owned game reserve. The following five weeks after Sousian were at Koobi Fora and Ileret, Kenya, both on the eastern and northeastern sides of Lake Turkana respectively. It was at Koobi Fora that we helped dig at a 1.5 million year old site which contained the first EVER discovered footprints of Homo erectus. We also helped out with some archeological research at a few ~five thousand year old sites that exhibit the first appearance of pastoralism in Kenya. I even helped unearth a five thousand year old man who had suddenly died out in the bush. He laid in a fetal position and was somehow rapidly buried after death thus preserving his skeleton over time.
Logistically speaking, we first landed in Nairobi, where we basically bisected the country from the very South to the northern-most point. I saw several different ecological zones, several types of savannah (moist, dry, sub-desert), drove through mountain ranges, extinct volcanic valleys and many lucastrine and fluvial environments. Two 18 hour drives (with occasional stops to camp) was what it took to get up to Koobi Fora in a few days time.
In one of my journals I uncovered a list of the birds I had been able to identify. Here is the list I compiled. I am going to post some photos from the trip as well as a couple pictures of my most favorite bird in all of Africa, the Secretary Bird. Even though I was not able to get any photos of this bird I want everyone reading my blog to see this magnificent creature.
Birds Identified and Locations:
Ileret – African Skimmer
Lake Turkana – African Darter
Outside Nairobi – Hammerkop
Sousian – Great White Egret
Lake Turkana – Greater Flamingo
Lake Turkana – African Spoonbill
Everywhere – African Sacred Ibis
Sousian – Hadada Ibis
Lake Turkana – Great White Pelican
Nairobi – Marabou Stork
Lake Turkana (in flight) – Saddle-billed Stork
Lake Turkana – Egyptian Goose
Lake Turkana – African Fish Eagle
Souisan – Egyptian, Hooded, Lappet-faced, White-headed,
White-backed Vultures
To South Horr – Steppe Eagle
Souisan – Helmeted Guinea Fowl
Sousian – Vulturine Guinea Fowl
Ileret – Crested Francolin
Everywhere – Yellow-necked Spurfowl
Ileret – Common Quail
Sousian – Grey Crowned Crane
Ileret – Heuglin’s Bustard
Ileret – Arabian Bustard
Koobi Fora and Ileret – Kori Bustard
Ileret – Black-bellied Bustard
Koobi Fora - Senegal/Eurasion Thick-knee
Koobi Fora – Spur-winged Lapwing (Plover)
Ileret – Common or Caspian Tern
Ileret – Sandgrouse
Koobi Fora – Speckled Pigeon
Everywhere – African Mourning Dove
Everywhere at Sousian – Cape Turtle (Ring-necked) Dove
Ileret – Laughing (Palm) Dove
Ileret – Namaqua Dove
Souisan – White-bellied Go-Away-Bird
To Koobi Fora – Common Ostrich
Ileret – Northern Red-billed Hornbilled
Sousian – Jackson’s Hornbill
Koobi Fora – Crested Lark
Koobi Fora – Eurasian Golden Oriole
Everywhere – Pied Crow
Koobi Fora – Fan-tailed Raven
Ileret – Somali Fiscal
Sousian – Glossy Starling
Sousian – Superb Starling
Ileret – White-headed Buffalo Weaver
Sousian – Hildenbrant’s Starling
Sousian – Yellow-billed Oxpecker
Sousian – Red-billed Oxpecker
Koobi Fora – Blue Crane
Koobi Fora - Eurasian Nightjar
From Koobi Fora – Secretary Bird
Lake Naivasha - Reed Cormorant
53 species identified
Superb Starling (Koobi Fora)
Terrain of northeastern Kenya
Sunset on Lake Turkana also called "the Jade Sea"
Casts of Fossil Crania Found at Koobi Fora
(left to right, Homo habilis, Homo rudolfensis, Homo erectus)
On Left, Ambrose Lochilia, he knew every bird by common and scientific name and was instrumental in helping me identify birds at Sousian Ranch, Laikipia Plateau
...AND HERE IS MY FAVORITE BIRD IN THE WORLD BY FAR!
(I did NOT take these photos, they are borrowed from the internet)
The Secretary Bird
Here is a link to facts about this magnificent bird: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretarybird
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