The Island of Lamu, Kenya

Our Room at the Jannat House Hotel
(A two star hotel featuring electricity (when it was on), water (no hot water), mirrors in the bathroom that would be very useful if you were three feet tall, three tiny bars of soap for five men, strings across the ceiling to keep the bats from coming down into the room, and, of course, lots of mosquito netting. Air conditioning? What's that? Not even a fan!) The Hotel itself was very attractive and offered a beautiful view from the roof. If you want to order lunch be prepared to wait at least an hour and a half - it takes time to buy all those ingredients!

The view from the roof of our Hotel

Another view from the roof.

The Donkey Sanctuary in Lamu.

The waterfront was beautiful.

Some Lizards at Lake Nakuru National Park

Lake Nakuru National Park

Warthogs

The Land Rover we travelled in.
Yes, it goes off road! In fact many of the roads we travelled on were technically off road by North American standards. With the right driver Wonderland has nothing on a trip in a Land Rover in Kenya.

Dik-Dik

Hadada Ibis

Flamingo

Giraffe

Rhino

More Rhino

Leopard

Rock Hyrax

Thompson's Gazelle

Lion

Waterbuck

Zebra

Buffalo

Around Kijabe, Kenya

Common Bulbul

View from the back porch in Kijabe.
The Rift Valley in the distance.

African Paradise Flycatcher

Sykes Monkey

Red-faced Crombec

Colobus Monkeys

Oxford Birds

Tufted Duck

Fulvous Whistling-Duck

Black Swan

Graylag Goose

Robin

Unidentified Flying Object

Coot

Black-headed Gull
in non-breeding plummage.

Oxford Scenery

The Rainbow Bridge on the Cherwell.

A beautiful pond at the University Parks in Oxford.
The grounds were cared for meticulously.

The River Cherwell as it flows through the University Parks,
slow, brown, and full of bird life.

Oxford and Kenya

I just returned from a wonderful trip to England and Africa. Most of my time in England was spent at Oxford where I explored the University Parks and the Colleges. I also had a day to tour around London. Because I didn't have the spotting scope with me on this trip the bird pictures leave something to be desired but I'll post what I have, just for the record. I spent two weeks in Kenya at Kijabe and had a day trip to Lake Nakuru National Park and travelled to the island of Lamu for three days. Oxford has always had a large place in my imagination and it was wonderful to see so many of the places that I had read about in history and in story.

Amherstview Sewage Lagoons

Hudsonian Godwit
(30 September, 2006)

This was a new bird for my life list. There was only one at the Lagoons that I could find. He was cooperative for pictures as long as I kept my distance, although he was moving most of the time, making it a challenge for the digiscope process.

Lesser Yellowlegs

American Pipit

There were lots of American Pipit, Canada Geese, Bonaparte's Gulls, and Yellowlegs.

Circus of the Spineless

The Tenth Edition of the Circus of the Spineless
is now up and running.
Click on the Logo above to get your tickets!

Fomitopsis pinicola

Algonquin Provincial Park, Bat Lake
25 June, 2006

I believe that these are three different examples of the same species. All growing on dead stumps and commonly called the Red-belted Polypore. Roger Phillips (Mushrooms and Other Fungi of North America) says that this is the most commonly collected Polypore in North America.