One of Kenya’s lesser known wonders is its rich birdlife. The variation in habitat across Kenya means that different areas of the country have very different bird lists, making it a fascinating part of the world for birders to visit.

So much of the country is open grassland or bush the birds are also relatively easy to see. Some specialist tours reckon on 5-600 species in a two week tour.

Taking it fairly gently, without a specialist bird guide, but going on some of the bird walks available at lodges we've managed 350 species in two weeks; there's a lot of birds out there.

When to Bird?

For sheer numbers the best time is between October and April when more than 120 migrant species have arrived from the Northern hemisphere, mostly from the Palearctic but with some African migrants such as Forbes-Watson's Swift; there is also the chance of finding one of the passage migrants such as the Sooty Falcon in March-April and October-December. If you're interested in bird-ringing, the latter period is when there's a large bird ringing exercise at Ngulia in Tsavo National Park. The coast is particularly good during this period with large flocks of water birds congregating at Mida Creek and Sabaki Estuary, while The Rift Valley lakes and Amboseli attract a lot of northern waterfowl.

Important Birding Areas in Kenya and their birds

• Aberdare Mountains – Sharpe’s Longclaw, Aberdare Cisticola, Abbott’s Starling, Jackson’s Widowbird
• Mt Kenya region- Lesser Kestrel, Sharpe’s Longclaw, Jackson’s Widowbird
• Arabuko Sokoke Forest and Diani Forest- Southern Banded Snake Eagle, Fischer's Turaco, Sokoke Scops Owl, Spotted Ground Thrush, Sokoke Pipit, East Coast Akalat, Amani Sunbird, Plain-backed Sunbird and Clarke's Weaver
• Mida Creek- Crab-plover, Lesser and Greater Sandplover, Roseate and Saunder's Tern
• Tana River Delta- Southern Banded Snake Eagle, Malindi Pipit and Basra Reed Warbler. Also hosts internationally important levels of Gull-billed Tern, Caspian Tern, Lesser Crested Tern Saunders's Tern, Pink-backed Pelican, Yellow-billed Egret, Great Egret, Open-billed Stork, Yellow-billed Stork, African Spoonbill, Lesser Sandplover, Little Stint and Marsh Sandpiper
• Tsavo West & East National Park- Corncrake, Basra Reed Warbler and Freidmann’s Lark
• Meru National Park- the regionally threatened Saddle-billed Stork
• Shaba National Reserve- Lesser Kestrel and Williams's Lark
• Nairobi National Park- Madagascar Squacco Heron, Corncrake Lesser Kestrel, Red-throated Tit and Jackson's Widowbird. In January 2000 this IBA was the centre of attention because of the discovery of what is believed to be a new pipit.
• Amboseli National Park- Madagascar Squacco Heron, Lesser Flamingo, Lesser Kestrel and also possibly the Shoebill
• Lake Baringo- Madagascar Squacco Heron, Lesser Flamingo, Pallid Harrier, Lesser Kestrel
• Lake Elementaita- Greater Spotted Eagle, Lesser Kestrel, Lesser Flamingo, Grey-crested Helmet-shrike, Jackson's Widowbird. Also hosts large congregations of Black-necked Grebe, Great White Pelican, African Spoonbill, Greater Flamingo, Pied Avocet
• Lake Naivasha- Grey-crested Helmet-shrike, Basra Reed Warbler, Lesser Flamingo. Also has large congregations of Red-knobbed Coot, African Spoonbill and Little Grebe.
• Lake Nakuru National Park- Madagascar Squacco Heron, Lesser Flamingo, Pallid Harrier, Greater Spotted Eagle, Grey-crested Helmet-shrike. Also hosts large congregations of Greater Flamingo, Black-necked Grebe, Little Grebe, Great White Pelican, Yellow-billed Stork, African Spoonbill, Black-winged Stilt, Grey-headed Gull and Gull-billed Tern.
• Masai Mara National Reserve- Madagascar Squacco Heron, Lesser Kestrel, Pallid Harrier, Corncrake, Grey-crested Helmet-shrike, Red-throated Tit, Jackson's Widowbird

Include birding in your Zoar Tour…