Nairobi National Park Birds - Over 500 Species, Habitat by Habitat, and What Your Safari Guide Probably Won't Show You

Birding by Habitat

The species count is impressive but also confusing. Where do you start? I break it down by where you are in the park, because the birds change when the habitat changes.

The Dams (Hyena Dam, Nagolomon Dam)

African Fish Eagle, African Darter, herons, stilts, seasonal ducks, Saddle-billed Stork. The dams pull in waterbirds, especially in dry months when water sources outside the park have gone.

Nagolomon Dam is the one I go to for birding. Less traffic than Hyena Dam. The kingfishers seem more active there — Pied, Malachite, and Giant all occur. Some birders I’ve talked to believe the African Fish Eagles have moved their nesting sites further from the SGR bridge in recent years, possibly because of the vibration or noise, though I haven’t seen published evidence for that. They do seem more common around Nagolomon now than they used to be.

The Open Grassland (Southern Plains, Athi Basin)

Secretary Bird walks the plains hunting snakes by stomping them. Common Ostrich. Grey Crowned Crane near wet patches. The Kori Bustard is here too, which is worth noting because it’s the world’s heaviest flying bird, and seeing one lumber into the air from a grassland clearing is a proper spectacle. Hartlaub’s, White-bellied, and Black-bellied Bustard are also present, giving the park four bustard species in total, which is unusual for an area this size.

Ground-nesting species freeze before flushing, so driving speed matters. Most safari drivers go too fast for birding. At 30 km/h you’ll pass a Temminck’s Courser or a Black-faced Sandgrouse without ever knowing it was there. Termite mounds and fence posts are worth scanning for perching shrikes and raptors.

The Yellow-barked Acacia Woodland

The Fever Trees along waterways. The localised species that birders come here for tend to be in these yellow-barked patches rather than on the open plains. Red-throated Tit. Dark-capped Yellow Warbler. African Moustached Warbler. Sulphur-breasted Bushshrike. Red-fronted Barbet. Kenya Birding’s lead guide specifically directs visiting birders to this habitat.

If you see a stand of yellow-green-barked trees, it’s worth stopping and scanning the canopy for a few minutes.

The Mbagathi River and Streams

The riverine forest holds species you can’t see from a vehicle. Robin-chats, sunbirds, woodland raptors. The Hippo Pool walking trail, with an armed KWS ranger, gives you access to this habitat on foot. The acoustics are different when you’re walking. You hear far more than from inside a car with the engine running.

I’ve been told there’s a stretch of the Mbagathi near the southern boundary where the White-backed Night Heron has been spotted at dawn and dusk. It’s one of the park’s rarest possibilities. I’ve tried twice at first light and come up empty, but knowing it’s been recorded there is enough to keep me going back when I have the time.

The Rocky Gorges

Verreaux’s Eagle nests in the gorge walls. Crowned Eagle is in the upland forest fragments above the gorges. Both are increasingly rare across their ranges, and NNP is one of the more accessible sites to see either species near Nairobi.