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Superb starlings at Fisherman’s Camp plunged me into an episode of ethnocentrism. Just little birds! At first, we and our fellow orientees were in awe of the superb starlings’ striking beauty . Their wings and back reflected a brilliant, shimmery blue-green color. Combine that with their orange bellies and black heads and indeed, their beauty was stunning. And to think they lived right there with us, so close! Before long, though, their arrogant, tenacious determination to steal our food—right from our plates sometimes!—soured our initial admiration. To make matters worse, they pooped on our laundry hanging between trees. When that happened, I’d have to get out my little plastic basin, scrub the laundry clean, and hang it to dry—again under those birds! Then the ibis calls began to get on our nerves—they were so loud and piercing. In fact, they bordered on obnoxious. Mind you, people come from around the world to watch and listen to Lake Naivasha’s birds, but to my way of thinking, th...

Let me tell you about fruit bats. It was just before bedtime on the first night of our orientation course at Lake Naivasha, Kenya, when our director, Brian Caston, warned us about fruit bats’ strange nocturnal noise. He said it sounded like someone striking a note on a xylophone, the same note over and over and over again. Have you ever tried to sleep through the night with someone playing a xylophone outside your tent? Sigh. . . . Brian forgot to mention that the note was flat. According to Learn About Nature’s website , fruit bats are “furry, cute mammals and do not inspire the fear that some people have of bats.” Click here to see pictures of these “furry, cute mammals.” Researchers with Tel Aviv University discovered fruit bats make various noises to communicate with each other. Bob Yirka reports , “The researchers grouped the sounds into four main groups: arguing over food, mating and sleeping clusters, and differences of opinion regarding how close was too close when hanging ...

More than a thousand bird species live in Kenya and almost four hundred species make their homes at Lake Naivasha where Dave and I spent the first two weeks of our orientation course. I marveled at the birdsongs— their warbles and chirps and calls— their variety, intensity, and volume .  Listening to those birds in such close proximity  was one of the highlights of my life . It’s no surprise that people come from around the world  to watch Lake Naivasha’s birds. We lost all our photos from our stay on the shores of Lake Naivasha but nowadays, thanks to the internet, besides seeing photos of those lovely birds, you can also listen to their songs. So here we go, thanks to the following links: At this link , you will see the lake and the birds that live there, and you can listen to their distinct calls. You’ll see vibrant Superb Starlings between the 1:29 point and 1:49. At 2:13 you’ll see the Colobus monkeys that lived among us, too. Watch for their striking black and white...