Karura Forest

Karura Forest is an urban forest located north of central Nairobi, the largest city and capital of Kenya. The forest was gazetted in 1932 and is managed by the Kenya Forest Service in conjunction with the Friends of Karura Forest. The area of Karura Forest is in excess of 1000 hectares, making it the largest of the three main gazetted forests in Nairobi. There are wetland sites within the preserve area including a pond within an old quarry and a forested stream.

More than 200 bird species have been recorded in Karura forest. It is quiet and tranquil, permitting encounters with amazing forest birds. The following bird list was compiled in just three hours by professional Bird Guide, Charles Mwangi Gitau:

Sunday, Nov. 3, 2019
1. White-backed Duck
2. Egyptian Goose
3. Yellow-billed Duck
4. Little Grebe
5. Lemon Dove
6. Tambourine Dove
7. Eurasian Moorhen
8. Black Crake
9. African Jacana
10. Marabou Stork
11. Hamerkop
12. Black-headed Heron
13. Common Squacco Heron
14. Hadada Ibis
15. Black Kite
16. Speckled Mousebird
17. Narina Trogon
18. Silvery-cheeked Hornbill
19. Pied Kingfisher
20. Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater
21. Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird
22. Lesser Honeyguide
23. Chinspot Batis
24. Black-backed Puffback
25. Tropical Boubou
26. African Paradise-Flycatcher
27. Northern Fiscal
28. Pied Crow
29. White-bellied Tit
30. Red-faced Crombec
31. Green-backed Camaroptera
32. Yellow-breasted Apalis
33. Tawny-flanked Prinia
34. Gray-capped Warbler
35. Red-faced Cisticola
36. Singing Cisticola
37. Lesser Swamp Warbler
38. Rock Martin
39. Black Sawwing
40. Yellow-whiskered Greenbul
41. Cabanis's Greenbul
42. Common Bulbul
43. Kikuyu White-eye
44. Abyssinian Thrush
45. African Dusky Flycatcher
46. White-eyed Slaty-Flycatcher
47. Brown-backed Scrub-Robin
48. Cape Robin-Chat
49. Ruppell's Robin-Chat
50. Brown-chested Alethe
51. Collared Sunbird
52. Scarlet-chested Sunbird
53. Bronze Sunbird
54. Northern Double-collared Sunbird
55. Variable Sunbird
56. Baglafecht Weaver
57. Holub's Golden-Weaver
58. Village Weaver
59. Red-billed Firefinch
60. Bronze Mannikin
61. Cape Wagtail
62. African Pied Wagtail
63. Streaky Seedeater

More Information:

• Friends of Karura Forest
• Kenya Forest Service
• Wikipedia
• Google Images