LAKE ELMENTEITA BIRD COUNT

Posted on January 28, 2012 by beaty limo

The January 2012 Water bird count for the Lake Elmenteita was carried out on the 21st as from 6: 00 am.The turn up for the volunteers was good over two hundred Volunteers Participated and fourteen groups were formed.Each group was assigned a portion of the Lake, and everything was fine. The wetland bird species for the lake was diverse with a great reduction in the flamingo numbers. The other observation was that the water level for the lake was very high.
The activity is usually organized by the Ornithology Section, Zoology Department, National Museums of Kenya in Collaboration with the Kenya Wildlife Service, and other Natural Resource Organizations.

Shared From:Community Education and Awareness Desk.

The White-Necked Cormorant on the Island

Cormorant drying the wings with the Grey-Headed Gulls.

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY VISIT SOYSAMBU CONSERVANCY FOR FIELD STUDY

Posted on January 18, 2012 by beaty limo

It is a great opportunity to host the university students from the Centre for Global Education and staff for field study this week. The university’s instructors have been accompanied the students for the study in Africa majorly on Larger mammals (Conservation Biology of Terrestrial Megafauna) and related fields. The students studied rangelands, Human wildlife conflict, Raptors, and Livestock management. The visit to other protected conservation areas in Kenya gave them a clear picture of what the country has in terms of flora and magafauna.The students had opportunity of working closely with Simon Thomset who is known globally for raptors study and research. They were able to capture, ring and release some raptors including Augur buzzards and Long crested eagles. Small mammal traps were also laid for rodents. A number of cameras were set at strategic locations and a leopard was notably the largest nocturnal animal captured while walking to hunting ground. The waterfowls of Lake Elementeita mainly the Greater flamingos, Lesser Flamingos, Pelicans, Cormorants, Teals formed part of the study during visit to the lake. The lake being a Ramsar Site, World Heritage Site, Importance Bird Area and National Sanctuary is a great site also visited for field study

Release of already ringed Augur buzzard

Dance by pupils at Kiboko to welcome their guests

Field study for livestock and rangeland management

SOYSAMBU CONSERVANCY AND NATIONAL MUSEUMS MAMMALS SURVEY.

Posted on December 19, 2011 by beaty limo

The aim of the survey was to provide understanding on meso and small mammals of the Soysambu conservancy. This is aimed at enhancing conservation given that several species in this category have potential in use in monitoring for habitat change.
Assorted traps including mist nets for bats, tomahawk and Sherman for mammals were used.
The traps were set in selected habitats that reflect habitat categories in the range.
Immediate output of this short survey is a species inventory and a poster which we could co-authored by National Museums of Kenya and Soysambu Conservancy for conservation/research office to support decision making by the management. A longer survey will follow to exhaustively record all species in the Soysambu Conservancy.
The survey was done from Friday evening to Sunday evening. The rodents were measured dissected,sampled and preserved.

The team is getting ready to set traps

Searching for suitable locations for traps.

Open lab ready for dissection.

Dissection and labelling.

Measuring the Zebra mouse.

Pollinators season

Posted on November 24, 2011 by beaty limo

Pollination is a keystone process in both human-managed and natural terrestrial ecosystems. It is critical for food production and human livelihoods, and directly links wild ecosystems with agricultural production systems. The vast majority of flowering plant species only produce seeds if animal pollinators move pollen from the anthers to the stigmas of their flowers. Without this service, many interconnected species and processes functioning within an ecosystem would collapse. With well over 200,000 flowering plant species dependent on pollination from over 100,000 other species, pollination is critical to the overall maintenance of biodiversity in many senses. Animal pollinators allow many kinds of flowering plants to coexist in an ecosystem, rather than restricting it to the lower-diversity stands of wind-pollinated plants that dominated before the flowering plants evolved. Pollination services thus shape plant communities and determine fruit and seed availability, providing tremendously important food and habitat resources for other animals.