For all you birders

Here are some of my bird photos:

Rufous-crowned Roller

 Red-rumped Swallows

 Eastern Chanting-Goshawk

 White-bellied Go-away-Bird

 Hadada Ibis

 Brown Parrot

 Yellow-necked Spurfowl

 Spotted Thick-knee

 Red-Fronted Barbet

 White-bellied Bustard

Northern Wheatear

 Nubian Woodpecker

New addition to the list: Great Spotted Cuckoo

A Thanksgiving Day Adventure

We celebrated Thanksgiving on December  1^st at camp. Shirley had just arrived from Nairobi, bringing with her the makings of a delicious Thanksgiving feast. After toasting with a nice glass of wine, we gorged ourselves on a 2 kg roasted chicken, creamy mashed potatoes, crisp green beans, fabulous stuffing, and even homemade cranberry sauce.

After the meal we rolled ourselves into the truck for an afternoon safari around the ranch. During the drive we saw gerenuk, gazelles, giraffes, vervet monkeys and even baboons. But most of all, we saw tons of Grevy’s zebra around almost every corner. These gorgeous animals have the tendency to turn and look at you, very convenient!

On the safari we also checked out the Uaso Ngiro River. It would have been a beautiful picnic spot if only we weren’t so stuffed!

On the way back to camp we came across the carcass of a young elephant that was being enjoyed by several spotted hyenas. They weren’t too disturbed by our presence, but we left them to their Thanksgiving meal.

 It was a wonderfully perfect day. 

Mammal and Bird Lists

There is an incredible amount of wildlife out here. Almost every day on the way to and from the baboon troops we come across gazelles, Grevy’s zebra, elephants, and giraffes – so often that these animals have become commonplace for us. The most exciting of our new spots was (1) our first black rhino (a very shy animal) and (2) a cheetah stalking a mixed herd of gazelles and zebra. Here is my complete mammal list to date:  

African Elephant

Anubis Baboon

Beisa Oryx

Black Rhinoceros

Black-backed Jackal

Burchell's Zebra

Bush Hare

Cape Buffalo

Cheetah

Common Eland

Gerenuk

Grant's Gazelle

Grevy's Zebra

Guenther's Dik Dik

Hippo

Impala

Jackson's Hartebeest

Klipspringer

Lesser Kudu

Pygmy Mongoose

Reticulated Giraffe

Rock Hyrax

Spotted Hyena

Steenbok

Swayne's Dik Dik

Thomson's Gazelle

Vervet Monkey

Warthog Waterbuck

Of course we also see a ton of birds, not only are there numerous species here year-round, but this area hosts a variety of migrant species across the year as well. This is, of course, a partial list of what’s around here. When I’m out with the baboons I don’t tend to have to time to ID all the birds around me, or take their photos for later identification. So, here’s my bird list to date, all the species I have identified in between baboon time and around camp:

Common Names:

Abyssinian Scimitarbill

African Crow

African Firefinch

African Paradise Flycatcher

African Pied Wagtail

African Spoonbill

Amethyst Sunbird

Arabian Bustard

Augur Buzzard

Baglafecht Weaver

Beautiful Sunbird

Black Coucal

Black Coucal

Black Kite

Black-capped Social Weaver

Black-headed Batis

Black-headed Heron

Black-headed Weaver

Blacksmith Lapwing

Black-winged Stilt

Blue-naped Mousebird

Brown Parrot

Brubru

Cape Rook

Cardinal Woodpecker

Chin-spot Batis

Cliff Chat

Common Bulbul

Common Kestrel

Common Ostrich

Common Rock Thrush

Crowned Lapwing

d'Arnaud's Barbet

Dusky Nightjar

Eastern Chanting Goshawk

Egyptian Goose

Ethiopian Swallow

Eurasian Hoopoe

Eurasian Swift

European Roller

Fork-tailed Drongo

Golden-breasted Starling

Great Egret

Great White Pelican

Greater Blue-eared Starling

Green Wood-Hoopoe

Grey Crowned Crane

Grey Heron

Grey Woodpecker

Grey-headed Silverbill

Hadada Ibis

Hamerkop

Helmeted Guineafowl

Heuglin's Courser

Hildebrandt's Starling

Kori Bustard

Lesser Masked Weaver

Lesser Spotted Eagle

Lilac-breasted Roller

Little Bee-eater

Little Grebe

Little Rock Thrush

Little Swift

Marico Sunbird

Namaqua Dove

Northern Wheatear

Northern White-crowned Shrike

Nubian Woodpecker

Pied crow

Pintailed Whydah

Purple Grenadier

Red-and-yellow Barbet

Red-billed Hornbill

Red-billed oxpecker

Red-billed Teal

Red-capped Lark

Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu

Red-fronted Barbet

Red-rumped Swallow

Red-winged Starling

Ring-necked Dove

Rock Thrush

Rosy-breasted Bush-shrike

Rosy-breasted Longclaw

Rufous Sparrow

Rufous-crowned Roller

Ruppell's Long-tailed Starling

Scarlet-chested Sunbird

Secretary Bird

Somali Ostrich

Speckled Mousebird

Speckle-fronted Weaver

Spotted Thick-knee

Spur-winged Lapwing

Steel-blue Whydah

Superb Starling

Three-banded Plover

Variable Sunbird

Verreaux's Eagle

Von der Decken's Hornbill

Vulturine Guineafowl

White-bellied Bustard

White-bellied Canary

White-bellied Go-away-bird

White-browed Robin-chat

White-browed Scrub-Robin

White-browed Sparrow-weaver

White-headed Mousebird

Woodland Kingfisher

Yellow-necked Spurfowl

Yellow-spotted Petronia Sorry, no time for pictures, maybe next time!!

Community work

Here in Kenya we are lucky enough to be part of one of the longest running primate field studies, the Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project. Dr. Shirley Strum, the director of UNBP, learned early on that working with the local community is a key ingredient in a successful long-term primate project. UNBP has been involved in several community projects in Laikipia from a school conservation club to establishing a local resource and cultural center. By working to develop new outreach programs and provide a place for community members to actively maintain their Maasai culture, UNBP is hoping not only to give back to the community that generously allows us to study baboons on their land, but also to help the community preserve the cultural traditions that are threatened by the developing world.

As part of our experiences here we are lucky to have the opportunity to be involved in some of these community activities. Here is a look at what we have been able to do so far:

Twala Cultural Village:

One of the largest success stories is that of Twala Cultural Village. The village is owned and operated by women from the local Il Polei and Munishoi communities. Its overall goal is to provide income for the women and to give the larger community a place to get together. The Tenebo Resource Centre, tenebo meaning ‘come together’, provides groups a place to meet and share ideas and information. The various projects that have been developed at the village include:

1.Cultural homestays: Where guests can stay in traditional houses within the Maasai village.

2. Maasai beadwork: The village houses a large store of jewelry, baskets and other items handmade by Twala women.

3. Aloe plantation: Grown for the production of lotion, soaps, and other natural products.

4. Bee keeping: For the production of organic honey, which is then packaged and marketed by Desert Edge bio-enterprise.

5. Plant walks: For generations, Massai have been using local plants for treating various ailments. Guests are able to share in this indigenous knowledge on an expertly guided walk through the conservancy surrounding Twala village.

6. Cattle and goat walks: Similarly, cattle and goats are at the core of Maasai life and guests are able to experience livestock herding with Maasai herders and learn about their role in the ecosystem and society.

7. Last, but not least, Baboon walks: Guests can walk alongside the UNBP habituated tourist baboon troop. While this is less exciting for us baboon researchers, it is an exceptional experience for visitors to the area. The guides are experts on the ins and outs of baboon society as well as the ecological aspects of their lives on Laikipia. 

I first went to Twala in July when Joan and I were here for our short look-see. We were able to take a nice tour of the village and talk with some of the women who live and work there.

 

Painting Club

More recently, we have been helping out at the Il Polei Primary School in the after school Painting Club. Our ecological researcher, John Kenge, has been running the club for the last several years as practice for his future career in teaching. As art education is often missing from standard curriculum, the painting club offers students the chance to explore their artistic talents. They love the painting and adore John. He’s going to make a wonderful teacher one day soon!

Near the end of October we had a great visit from Jim Bleisner, a professor of Urban Planning at UC San Diego and artist, and Valerie Stallings, a retired councilwoman from San Diego (also see above for photos of Valerie dancing with the women of Twala).  We had a lot of fun with both Jim and Valerie with the baboons and in the area. Maybe the most special part of the visit was Jim doing a little art instruction in painting club. The students sat silently, all their attention focused on Jim and his instructions. The rest of us went around the room helping and praising the great work being done by the students.

 

Painting club is finished for the year, but we will resume again in January!

If anyone is interested in learning more about these community projects, please see: www.baboonsrus.com and www.conservationafrica.org

A day in the life of baboon researchers

Here’s a quick look at how we spend our days:

We are up by 5am, eating a quick breakfast and having the essential cup of Kenyan coffee. We pack lunch, fill our CamelBaks with water, and double-check our gear for baboon work. By 5:45 we’re on the road to see baboons, just as the sun is creeping over the horizon. Luckily that means that we get to see some spectacular sunrises.

 

And if we're lucky we get a nice clear view of Mount Kenya.

Lately we have not been so lucky, but have a pretty great view of the storms that are about to hit.

Regardless of the weather, after ~40 min in the truck we arrive in the area of our two focal troops. Although UNBP has six troops under observation year-round, we are focusing on the Pumphouse Gang and Enkai. Why only 2 of the troops? Successful behavioral field research results from a delicate balance in data collection. While we are always aiming to collect as much data as possible, we have to be careful to collect good quality data. In many cases in behavioral research, rich data on fewer individuals is actually better than sparser data on more individuals. We are currently just observing adults and sub-adults in our two troops, rotating through the individuals to get as even coverage as possible. Each day we go to the troop that we did not go to the previous day.

Once we have driven to the study area, we head to the target troop’s sleeping site. Each troop has a number of available sleeping sites in the area, mostly large rock formations that keep them safe from leopards, lions, and other risks at night. Each night we get texts from trackers on all troops as to where each troop goes for the night, so we have a pretty good idea where they will be in morning. That doesn't mean that the troop will be at the sleeping site when we arrive, some days the troop is off and moving by 6 am and it will take some time to find them and/or catch up. Usually we end up hiking 30-90 min to get to the troop, then we start our work day.

Our primary focus for data collection right now is social behavior. For each individual, we want to know who they are associating, grooming, fighting, and mating with. This will give us information about the relationships between individuals and, eventually, how they influence the overall dynamic of the group. 

To get this data we collect behavior in 3 ways: 

1. Focal follows: We follow one individual (our focal animal) for 15 minutes, recording everything that the focal does and the identities of all individuals that interact with the focal.

2. Nearest neighbor scans: We record the distances of the nearest male and female every 5 minutes for the focal animal during the focal follow.

3. Ad libitum behavior: Although it might not seem like it at first, baboons have a low rate of important social behaviors such as aggression and mating. If we only relied on focal follows, we would miss out on many of these interactions (I am beginning to think that the chances of a fight breaking out the minute after I finish a focal follow is way above chance). To give us a better picture of what is happening between individuals, we record every instance of these interesting social behaviors.  

All of this behavior is recorded on a handheld device in the field and uploaded into our computer databases each night at camp.

Getting back to our schedule, once we find the baboons, the observers split up and start collecting focal follows. Right now that is how we spend each day, just moving down our list of focal animals, getting as many focals as possible. I will admit that at times it can get a little boring. Some animals have a tendency to sleep or eat for entire focals and at times you have to wait for your focal animal to come down from a sheer rock face before you can even begin a focal. But there is always something interesting going on in the troop, it doesn’t take long before all observers become engrossed with the drama that is baboon society.  

Some of our latest news in the Pumphouse Gang is Buffalo’s new baby boy, Yankee. Buffalo is the highest ranking female in the troop, she is dominant over all other females. Anubis baboons, particularly females, are obsessed with babies. So the new arrival of Yankee has led to almost incessant baby greetings by all individuals that pass by Buffalo. Baby greetings often consist of a bow-like movement to get the greeter’s face close the baby, soft grunts, and lipsmacks. Not to anthropomorphize TOO much, but it is very much like my greetings to my baby nephews and seems to be just as addictive!

After filling 5-9 hours with behavioral observation on the baboons, it’s time to head home. We unpack and restock our materials, upload data, shower, deal with any camp maintenance or chores, and get to work making dinner. It is not normally too long after dinner that we are ready for bed. We need to get some good sleep in before starting another day of baboon research.