On 7 October 2015, Paul Benson and Julius Mathiu located and photographed a solitary great white egret (Ardea alba) at a pond at 2000 m asl on Lolldaiga Hills Ranch. This beautiful bird becomes the 343th species to be added to the Lolldaiga Hills Ranch Bird List. Access here the Lolldaiga Hills Bird list.
Great egret (Ardea alba). Photograph by Paul Benson.
On 22 September 2015, an adult Brown Snake-eagle (Circaetus cinereus) was photographed at 2000 m asl in a lightly forested valley on Lolldaiga Hills Ranch.
The Lolldaiga Hills Research Programme recently up-dated the ‘Reptiles and Amphibians of the Lolldaiga Hills Conservation Landscape’ species list. There are now 32 species of reptile (2 chelonians, 16 lizards, 14 snakes) and 12 species of amphibian (1 toad, 11 frogs) known for the Lolldaiga Hills Ranch. Click here to access this document.
Herald / White-lipped snake (Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia). Photograph by Paul Benson.
Understanding the distribution, abundance, and habit requirements of a species is basic to establishing a baseline for its long-term monitoring at a particular site. To this end, the Lolldaiga Hills Research Programme recently produced a report titled ‘Distribution and abundance of some of the larger mammals of Lolldaiga Hills Ranch, central Kenya’. This report presents information for 42 of the 54 larger mammals that are known to occur on Lolldaiga Hills Ranch, as well as for two smaller mammals (unstriped ground squirrel and striped ground squirrel). Photographs are presented for 42 species, while distribution maps are presented for 25 species.
Click here for the distribution maps and species accounts (html)
Click here to download the full report (pdf)
Black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas) and tawny eagle (Aquila rapax). Photograph by Paul Benson.
