GVI Kenya

Category: Coastal Forest, Small mammals, Small-eared Galago, Suni, bush baby | Date: Mar 18 2009 | By: gvikenya

Hello again everyone

Well I hope you’ve enjoyed the last couple of blogs from some of the other members of GVI here in Kenya.  I thought I’d do this one myself, to tell you about the exciting night we had.

Last night we embarked on our second night sleeping out in Shimoni East Forest.  This being our second time, we were even better prepared (with spare batteries for the torches this time!) and had another awesome night.

We headed in at about 6pm, when the forest is bathed in that amazing orange light, and the temperature has fallen to a slightly more pleasant level.  We headed east for about half a kilometer, approximately in the middle between transect 1 and 2.  We went back to the same spot we went to last week; a rather convenient natural clearing that is (almost) devoid of coral rag.  After collecting deadwood and preparing a safe spot for our cooking fire (we want to leave as little evidence of us being there as possible), we all laid out our roll mats and made ourselves comfortable. 

The forest is such an amazing place to be as the sun is setting; you get the feeling all the creatures of the day are winding down, and you get that period of about 20 minutes where there is silence and calm.  Then once the sun has set, all the night noises begin…
After an incredible dinner of nyama choma (BBQ’d meat!), we all gathered our torches, whistles and compasses and headed off for a night walk deeper into the forest.

A.P - A former student of the Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute - getting ready to cook dinner

We were not to be disappointed!  About 5 minutes after leaving we head a noise just to the right of us.  We all spun around and shone our torches to where the sound came from, and standing right there, no more than 3.5 metres away from us, was a suni!  A Suni (Neotragus moschatus) is a tiny antelope with long, slender legs, that stands no more than 30-40cm off the ground.  It was immediately stunned by the torchlight, allowing us an unbelievably close view of a usually very shy antelope.  It then proceeded to walk slowly around the area, foraging on nearby leaves, never going more than 6 or 7 metres away from us.  We watched it in silence for at least 10 minutes.  It was, hands down, the best sighting of a suni I have ever had!

The suni!

We carried on the walk, our spirits soaring, and were lucky enough to get a brief sighting of a small-eared galago (bushbaby), and another suni, although it simply didn’t compare to the first one!

Its eyes reflect the torchlight

Suni decides to start moving away

We then headed back to camp, and joined Adam (the unfortunate one who drew the short straw and had to stay back to watch the fire), where we all lay around the dying embers, and fell asleep to the sounds of the forest.

It was the second successful camp out in the forest, and I’m pretty convinced this is going to become a regular activity!
That’s all from me for now, I’ll be back soon!
Regards,
Matt

Tags: , bushbaby, night walks, Small-eared Galago, Suni

No responses yet

Category: Small mammals | Date: Mar 06 2009 | By: gvikenya

Hello!

Before I begin let me introduce myself…

My name is Matt, I’m GVI’s forest officer here in Shimoni.  I’m from Devon in England, although spent most of my life growing up in South Africa, Malawi and Bangladesh.  You’re usual blogger, Corti, is off to Costa Rica and Hawaii (on business I promise…) for a month and a half, so I shall be keeping you all informed and up to date with all the exciting news from the beautiful south coast of Kenya, and the work we’re doing here.  I don’t pretend to be as eloquent as Corti, and I’m only half as funny, but I shall certainly do my best!

Matt (in green) checking butterfly traps

Secondly, I must apologise for the distinct lack of blogs this week.  Unfortunately, we are in a part of the world where a fully functioning internet connection is never guaranteed.  We’ve been having some technical issues, but fingers crossed, all will be well!

At the end of last week, our forest team headed out nice and early to get a couple of bird surveys in.  Despite having to get out of bed when it is still dark, and fumble around for the equipment in the dark, it is without a doubt my favorite time to be out in the forest; just as dawn is breaking and all the animals are waking up with you.  We went to transect 1, our nearest transect, and sat down to begin the survey.  As usual, our ears were assaulted with hundreds of bird calls, and we all spent the half an hour trying to identify as many as we could.  It was only after the survey was finished when Olga, one member of our team came up to me, with a puzzled yet excited look on her face.  She, and one other person, had got a brief look at what she could only describe as a “mystery mammal”.  I was intrigued, so the moment we got back to base, out came the mammal book.  We all had a good look, and as of yet, have not made a positive ID.  

This is the description Olga gave:

Approximately 30cm high from the ground to its shoulder, and its head-body length was approximately 40cm.  It had a very bushy tail that stood erect when it ran.  It was a long tail, at least the same length as its body.  Its body colour was dark grey to black, with patches of white.  Its back was sloping and it ran with its head close to the ground.  It didn’t appear to have a long snout or muzzle, and was very quick along the ground.

Unfortunately, it was only a fleeting glimpse, so that is the best description we have, and there certainly wasn’t the chance for a photo!  After looking through the book, the two lucky spotters claim that the picture that looks most like what they saw is that of a zorilla (ictonyx striatus), but according to the book, they aren’t found here!  Apart from that, my guess would be it was some sort of mongoose (although the colouration doesn’t match the common ones found here).

It was exciting nonetheless, and we shall continue in our search to successfully ID it (feel free to offer any suggestions!).  I will be back very soon with more news, I hope you’ve enjoyed the first edition of ‘Matt’s blog’!

Bye for now

Tags: mammal, mongoose, Shimoni Forest, zorilla

5 responses so far

Category: Birds, Butterflies, Charcoal Burning, Coastal Forest, Colobus, Logging, Primate Research, Shimoni Forest, Small mammals, Spotted Ground Thrush, chameleon | Date: Feb 13 2009 | By: gvikenya

Yesterday we sent three teams in to the forest in an attempt to catch up on delays caused by having to re-cut transect 6, and a shorter week as some our research team prepare to take a long weekend break. 

Tess took ‘team 1′ up to transect 6 to finish off maintenance… re-clearing the paths we use to survey the forest following a combination of natural tree falls and sadly even more ‘unnatural’ tree falls as illegal timber extraction and charcoal burning continue. It is the hottest and hardest work so it was a mixture of relief and pride to hear they finished it. The excitement was reserved something else however - the team recorded another spotted ground thrush, our 2nd in as many weeks of this critically endangered bird species. Critically endangered due to habitat loss, something only too evident in the forest we survey; the presence of such a conservation important species however could provide an invaluable stimulus to raising awareness of the plight of Shimoni’s forests. Alongside the Angolan black and white colobus it represents a ‘flagship’ species - a focus for conservation that would benefit the wider habitat and species assemblage. 

Matt and I joined forces with our two teams to check the small mammal traps… empty… but on the way to transect 4, following our group from the back I noticed something on the ground, inconspicuous enough for the others to have walked by. A new born colobus monkey, sadly lying dead on the ground. A genuine mix of emotions; upsetting for everyone to see such a beautiful, vulnerable creature that didn’t quite make it - a species that we are committed to conserving, and acutely aware that every individual counts when habitat destruction is sending the species in to increasingly rapid decline in Kenya. But the scientist in me was also excited; when you study animals so intently, each day raises new questions, sometimes more than it brings answers. An opportunity to examine a new born so closely is a privilege. Pure white, thin silky fur, the face still pink, the dried skin of the umbilical cord still present. The hands clenched with the characteristic colobus trait of it’s reduced, almost non-existent thumb. Perfectly formed, but lifeless.

The infant had died probably at the end of the day before. A small gap in the tree canopy directly above suggested it may simply have fallen as its mother leaped between trees but this is obviously conjecture. It was curled in the foetal position so hadn’t died immediately, but likely had died as a result of a fall. We buried it, marked with stones… partly an emotive, collective mark of respect but the scientist still lurks - an complete, clean skeleton of an infant by the end of the rainy season will be of major interest. 

On transect 4 we conducted a bird survey - many were heard and crowned and trumpeter hornbills, green wood hoopoe, plain-backed sunbird and a pair of woodpeckers. Another exciting ’second’ of this expedition was spotted in the leaf-litter by Asha; a bearded pygmy chameleon.  

I took my team on to transect 5, to survey canopy height and coverage; straightforward, slow-paced work, but the panga needed swinging to clear the path of branches and vines, and the heat and humidity were taking their toll on all of us. Back at section 0, we mustered our remaining collective energies for butterfly sweep netting. There wasn’t quite enough energy left in reserve to chase down the few high and fast flying butterflies flitting through the sunny spots until Tom stepped up to the challenge at the end - a beautiful swordtail butterfly. 

And those were the highs and lows, but as with every day in Shimoni’s coastal forest the small, these daily rewards keep us coming back. Until next time… Corti

Tags: angolan black and white colobus, butterfly research, pygmy chameleon, Spotted Ground Thrush

No responses yet

Category: Birds, Coastal Forest, Colobus, Elephant Shrew, Shimoni Forest, Small mammals, Uncategorized, bush baby, chameleon | Date: Jan 21 2009 | By: gvikenya

It was only a matter of days after the arrival of our expedition members, before we were back in Shimoni’s coastal forest and underway with our research programme. The beginning of 2009 did not disappoint… within just the first week it felt like we’d seen an expedition’s worth of biodiversity. Heading out at 5.30am on bird surveys was made more than worthwhile with groups of colobus seemingly in every tree above. With the onset of the dry season, the leaves are falling and we were treated to clear views of colobus crashing through the branches and Syke’s monkeys scampering below.

The bird surveys delivered a hatrick of hornbills - crowned, silvery-cheeked and trumpeter. Elephant shrews were in evidence every day, hurtling over the leaf litter as were the small suni antelope. The night walk provided everyone with a clear view of a suni as it stood in our torchlight for a minute before disappearing in to the bush and bush babies too, their bright orange reflective eyes giving them away. However the most exciting ‘cameo’ of the week was a little chap that we hadn’t recorded since our first sighting nearly three years ago… an impressively cryptic species in the dry leaf litter, it seems remarkable that we should see it at all, and very satisfying to have a short-tailed (or bearded) pygmy chameleon make a reappearance on our casual observations database.

However, it seems that we didn’t need to go to all the effort of 5.30am departures and hot sweaty treks to the furthest reaches of our transects to enjoy Shimoni’s rich wildlife… we didn’t even need to leave the kitchen. Having quietly cursed rats for leaving half chewed bananas on the kitchen floor, I was proven wrong when two brown bundles of fur climbed through the window. The short-eared bush babies have returned every night since, and I can happily report that mangoes make for a suitable alternative to bananas for our uninvited dinner guests. And just when we thought our forest week was over, and we could relax with a cold beer at Smugglers, the biggest surprise of them all dropped by… a bush pig behind the bar!

Tags: biodiversity, bush baby, bush pig, chameleon, coastal forests, Colobus, Elephant Shrew, galago, hornbill, primate, sengi

One response so far

Category: Birds, Coastal Forest, Colobus, Gecko, Logging, Primate Research, Rodents, Shimoni Forest, Small mammals | Date: Sep 03 2008 | By: gvikenya

Today we ventured deep in to Shimoni East forest, to transect 5, to undertake bird point counts - we identified three red-capped robin chats foraging close together in the leaf litter, a silvery-cheeked hornbill flying overhead and a sun bird that was too quick through the vegetation to allow us to identify which species. Numerous other bird songs could be heard but the birds proved elusive through the dense vegetation.

However the peace of the forest morning was shattered during the bird surveys by the revving of a power saw overshadowing the birdsong, about 100m from us. Within 10 minutes the crashing sound of a tree falling through the undergrowth came, followed by chattering and laughter of people and distress calls from nearby Syke’s monkeys. And so once again Shimoni witnesses the loss of more critical coastal forest habitat to illegal and unregulated forest resource exploitation.

About 20 minutes later we recorded two adult Angolan black and white colobus travelling above us through the canopy of one of the tree species targetted by loggers. Their presence at the end of transect 5, close to the edge of the forest where the mangroves begin, is not often seen. It is sad to think that they are still vulnerable to habitat destruction so deep in the forest.

On a happier note, we did also manage to catch a gecko on our way through, which appears to be the flat-headed gecko Hemidactylus platycephalus. The real highlight however was the first capture in the small mammal traps we are trialling on transect 1. On day 2, we have been rewarded with first our rodent capture - the giant pouched rat. It looks to be a Cricetomys emini, a different species to the ones I am used to from Tanzania so particularly exciting for me. We clipped a small patch of her fur to see if we get her returning to the traps over this week…

3 responses so far