koru

Neil Willsher

Where is Koru? A good question, and for most people a difficult one to answer. Koru is situated close to Muhoroni Town in the sugar belt on the edge of Mt. Tinderet, at the entrance to the Nyando Valley. It lies on the boundary of Nyanza and Rift Valley Provinces. It is an excellent place to bird and ideal for people wanting to visit the wetlands on Ahero, Lake Victoria and the South Nandi, Mau or Kakamega Forests, all of which are within an easy drive.

Homa Lime Co. owns land in Koru and this farm is the perfect base for birding. The altitude of the area ranges from 1400-1700m and the climate is fairly hot and humid with annual rainfall averaging around 1600mm. Over 250 species have been recorded to date and the scenery is stunning. Getting around is very easy on an excellent network of well graded farm tracks and footpaths.

The birdlife in the area is spectacular. Some of the more special birds seen include the Little Sparrowhawk, African Hawk Eagle, Common Quail, Blue-spotted Wood Dove, Eastern Grey Plantain Eater, Ross's Turaco, Blue-headed Coucal, African Wood Owl, Broad-billed Roller, Common Scimitarbill, Black-billed Barbet, Red-throated Wryneck, Brown Babbler, Dark-capped Yellow Warbler, African Moustached Warbler, Yellow-bellied Hyliota, Black-headed Batis, Northern Puffback, Black-headed Gonolek, Copper Sunbird, Black-billed Weaver, Fan-tailed Widowbird, Fawn-breasted Waxbill and Steel Blue Whydah. At night the sounds of the Scops and African Wood Owl may often be heard together with the liquid whistle of the Montane Nightjar.

Vegetation is varied due to cropping and different soil conditions in the area. The birding described below is based upon habitat and the birds you can expect to see.

The Gardens

One of the most spectacular features of Koru are the gardens, which are perched on a hill overlooking the rest of the farm. These have been created over the past 30 years and it is here that a guest cottage is situated (see below). Varieties of plants are varied, including both local and exotic trees and shrubs: Podocarpus, Milletia various acacias, figs and crotons, Tipuana, Jacaranda, Palms, Frangipani, Flamboyant, Hibiscus, Bougainvillea, Bottle Brush, Oleander, Michelia, Thevetia, Heliconia, Duranta and Hamelia among others.

Thanks to this enormous variety of plant life, many bird species have nested here, including African Green Pigeon, Ring-necked and Red-eyed Doves, Speckled Pigeon, Brown Parrot, Ross's Turaco, a pair of Verreaux's Eagle Owls, African Palm Swift, Little Swift, White-headed Mousebird, Double-toothed and White-headed Barbets, Grey Woodpecker, Scaly-throated Honeyguide, Lesser Striped Swallow, African Pied Wagtail, Common Bulbul, African Thrush, Northern Black Flycatcher, African Paradise Flycatcher, Common Fiscal, Black-capped Tchagra, Common Drongo, Greater Blue-eared Starling, Copper and Scarlet-chested Sunbirds, Grey-headed Sparrow, Black-headed and Red-headed Weavers, Red-billed Firefinch and Bronze Manikin. Klaas's Cuckoo is found alongside Diederik Cuckoo, which respectively appear to favour the Bronze Sunbird and Baglafecht Weavers as foster parents. Other birds in evidence but as yet not recorded as breeding are Eastern Grey Plantain Eater, Levaillant's Cuckoo, White-rumped Swift, Woodland Kingfisher, Cardinal Woodpecker, Wire-tailed Swallow, Yellow-throated Leaflove, Tawny-flanked Prinia, Grey-backed Camaroptera, Grey-capped Warbler, Sulphur-breasted Bush Shrike, Tropical Boubou, Black Cuckoo-shrike, and Rüppell's Long-tailed Starling. With all the colour and pollen in the gardens other sunbirds to be found include Collared, Western Violet-backed, Variable, Purple-banded, Northern Double-collared, Amethyst and Green-headed. At certain times of the year, just after the rains, the Red-chested Cuckoo is a common sight often being noisily pursued by the White-browed Robin Chat which seems to be a favoured victim. In the eyes of some, the gardens are a perfect dining table and they are therefore well patrolled by the African Harrier-hawk, African Goshawk and Little Sparrowhawk.

Sugar Plantations and Borders

On flatter ground where soils are reasonable the main crop grown is sugarcane. These lush green plantations are the favoured haunt of the Red-collared Widowbird, Fan-tailed Widowbird, Fawn-breasted Waxbill, Common Waxbill, Blue-headed Coucal, Jackson's Golden-backed Weaver and the Yellow and Black Bishops. The sugar is bisected by grassy tracks to allow field maintenance, on which it is easy to observe Common Quail, Plain-backed Pipit and Yellow throated Longclaw. Once every 18 months the sugar cane is burnt and harvested, and the resulting open fields attract Black-bellied Bustards, African Wattled and Senegal Plovers along with hundreds of migrating White and Abdim's Storks and the occasional solitary Black Stork. The Eurasian Marsh Harrier can also often be seen quartering these areas. Other visitors are the occasional Pied and Northern Wheatear, flocks of Yellow Wagtails and mixed groups of Barn Swallows and common House Martins that 'jam' the telephone wires.

Sugarcane Borders and Stream Lines

Between the cane fields and along the farm roads there is a lot of waste ground with thickets comprising mainly lantana and guava. In these semi-permanent 'hedge-rows' can be found the White-browed Coucal, Blue-naped Mousebird, Black-lored, Arrow-marked and Brown Babblers and Black-headed Gonolek. The Red-billed Quelea is an occasional visitor greedily eyeing maize planted in adjacent farms. At certain times of the year the Black-and-white Cuckoo seems to adopt these hedges as it's home.

A number of seasonal and permanent stream beds are to be found. Thick vegetation extends up to 25m on either side, which may include naturalised lantana and guava but also various species of Acacia and Ficus, Albizia grandibracteata, Phoenix reclinata, Syzygium guineense and a large selection of woody shrubs. Birds found in these areas include African Emerald Cuckoo, Grey-throated and Yellow-billed Barbet, Slender-billed and Yellow-whiskered Greenbul, White-browed Scrub Robin, African Moustached Warbler, Red-faced, Winding and Singing Cisticolas, White-chinned Prinia, Yellow White-eye, Common and Black-throated Wattle-eye, Black-billed and Grosbeak Weavers. At night the distant sounds of the Scops and African Wood-Owl often originate from these areas.

Dams and Wetlands

A number of small dams have been constructed along some of these water courses. Some of these are surrounded by riverine scrub, but where they are bordered by sugarcane fields a selection of indigenous and exotic trees and shrubs have been planted. In some of these dams, water lilies have been introduced. Birds commonly recorded here are the Little Grebe, Sacred Ibis, Little and Yellow-billed Egrets, Grey and Black-headed Herons, Hamerkop, Grey Crowned-Crane, Black Crake, Green and Wood Sandpipers, African Pygmy, Striped and Giant Kingfishers and the Cape Wagtail. Occasional visitors include the Long-tailed Cormorant, Little Bittern, Black-crowned Night and Common Squacco Herons, African Open-billed and Yellow-billed Storks, Red-knobbed Coot, Fulvous Whistling Duck, Egyptian Goose, Northern Shoveller and Lesser Flamingo.

Semi-open Hillsides

Hillsides have two types of vegetation. Either they are cleared for grazing, with some remaining trees such as species of Acacia, Albizia, Croton, Terminalia, Combretum, Erythrina, Ficus, Baubinia, Kieglia and Markhamia, or they are covered with deciduous woodland comprising various genera, including the species listed above, with woody undercover interspersed with open glades where soil is poor. Certain areas are planted with Eucalyptus or Casuarina trees. Some of these plantations have an underbrush of mixed woody herbs and some smaller trees while others are cleared under the canopy to allow grazing. In these areas the ground cover comprises grasses, mainly of Hyparrhenia and Imperata species.

These hillsides produce rich pickings, with flocks of Cattle Egrets following the cattle, Hadada Ibis, Scaly Francolin, Helmeted Guineafowl, Tambourine Dove, both the Blue-spotted and Emerald-spotted Wood Doves and occasionally the Namaqua Dove; Broad-billed Roller, Green Wood-hoopoe, Common Scimitarbill, Black-and-white Casqued Hornbill, Black-billed and Spot-flanked Barbets, Red-fronted and Yellow-rumped Tinkerbirds, Greater and Lesser Honeyguides, Red-throated Wryneck, Nubian Woodpecker, both the Black and White-headed Saw-wing, Pale Flycatcher, Dark-capped Yellow Warbler, Buff-bellied Warbler, Black-throated Apalis, Black-headed Batis and Holub's Golden and Spectacled Weavers. Other seasonal visitors to these wooded slopes are the Common Buzzard, Eurasian Hobby, Lesser Kestrel, Eurasian, African and Red-chested Cuckoo, Eurasian White-throated, and Madagascar Bee-eaters, three roller species (Lilac-breasted, Eurasian and Rufous-crowned), Hoopoe, Crowned Hornbill, Tree Pipit, Spotted Flycatcher, Common Whitethroat, Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Olivaceous Warbler, Yellow-bellied Hyliota, Red-backed and Grey-backed Shrikes, Brown-capped Tchagra, Black-backed and Northern Puffbacks, three orioles (African Golden, Eurasian Golden and Black-headed) and the Violet-backed Starling.

Koru plays host to many other interesting birds. These include Marabou Stork, Laughing Dove, Bare-faced Go-away Bird, Mottled, Nyanza and Horus Swifts, Little Bee-eater, Banded and African Rock Martins, Red-rumped and Mosque Swallows, African Grey Flycatcher, Pied Crow, Stuhlmann's, Superb and Wattled Starlings, Red-billed Oxpecker, Lesser Masked Weaver, Steel-blue Whydah, Pin-tailed Whydah, African Citril and Brimstone and Yellow-fronted Canaries.

This incredible array of birdlife is also seen by others as a source of food. It is not surprising that the following array of raptors has been seen: African Cuckoo-hawk, Bat Hawk, Bateleur, Black-chested Snake Eagle, Brown Snake Eagle, Great Sparrowhawk, Shikra, Gabar Goshawk, Augur Buzzard, Long-crested Eagle, Martial Eagle, African Hawk Eagle, Tawny Eagle, Wahlberg's Eagle, African Fish-Eagle, Black Kite, Black-shouldered Kite, Pygmy Falcon and Lanner Falcon.

Where to Stay

Homa Lime has its own guest cottage capable of offering full board accommodation. There are two double rooms, both with en-suite bathrooms a living room, veranda and kitchen. The cottage is situated on the farm residential compound in one of the most stunning gardens in Kenya. Also on offer are two tennis courts, a swimming pool and horse riding. Bookings can be made calling Homa Lime on 0341-510464/65/72 and asking for Mrs. Brooks.

Getting There

Visiting Koru requires your own transport. The route is the main road from Nairobi to Kisumu, turning off at the bottom of the escarpment past Kericho in the direction of Muhuroni. The road from Nairobi is generally good and four wheel drive is not necessary. Fuel is available in Muhuroni (7 km) and Kericho (52 km). A detailed map of the route is available on request when making a booking.

Nearby Areas of Interest

Koru is ideal for anyone interested in viewing the birds of western Kenya, either as a stop-off en route or as a base. Excellent birding locations within easy reach are Lake Victoria, Ahero Rice Scheme, South Nandi Forest, Kakamega Forest and the Mau Forest in Kericho.

This article copyright © "Kenya Birds" magazine published by Nature Kenya and National Museums of Kenya and reproduced with the permission of the editor.