Kenya Birds 2000 Volume 08 №01

Nairobi: Departament of Ornithology. — 94 p. — ISSN: 1023-3679.Kenya Birds is eight years old. Up until now it has been read by a relatively limited circle: birdwatchers (of all levels of interest and experience) in Kenya and a few abroad. Last year, the Bird Committee decided that Kenya Birds should, from vol. 8, be distributed to all members of Nature Kenya. We warmly welcome all our new readers and hope that you will find something to interest you in this and future issues, whether or not you have a personal enthusiasm for birds. Kenya Birds' content has not changed — this remains a magazine about birds, birdwatching and bird conservation.
However, we are always happy to receive suggestions on what you would (and would not) like to see published. We are also happy that Kenya Birds should evolve to suit better its new, broader readership. If you can accompany your suggestions with some material for publication, then even better (see the 'notes for contributors' at the back of this issue).
We have already taken the opportunity, in this issue, to make some small changes in style and format. The layout of Kenya Birds has always been very simple, the emphasis being on content and clarity rather than fancy design. This hasn't changed, but a few features have been dusted off and modernised. We hope you find these changes improve appearance and readability — but once again, feedback is very welcome.
The last eight years have seen many advances in our understanding of Kenya's birds. However, the more we find out the more new puzzles seem to emerge. Also, it becomes more and more obvious that many of our birds face very serious and urgent conservation problems. If there is any hope that we can do something about these problems, it is because of the enormous upsurge in interest in birds (and the wider environment) over that same eight years. We hope that Kenya Birds has played some small part in encouraging this interest: we need your support to keep on doing so. It is a cliche, but true nevertheless, that the young birdwatchers of today will determine whether our birds (and other biodiversity) have a tomorrow.
This issue includes news up to July 2000. The records date from around August 1998 to the time of World Birdwatch in October 1999, plus a few particularly interesting older observations. World Birdwatch produced a huge number of exciting records, and these are taking a long time to process — the delay being made worse by our records officer in the Ornithology Department going on study leave. We intend to bring records as far as possible up to date in the next Kenya Birds. That issue will also have an update on new species for the Kenya list, and revisions to the list of Red Data book species (as BirdLife International publishes "Birds to Watch 3".
Before signing off, we would like to say 'thanks' to Mark Mallalieu for editorial help, and to Duncan Butchart for allowing us to reproduce his superb line drawings from the 'Ecological Journal' nos. 1 and 2. These publications, by the Conservation Corporation, Africa, also include many interesting natural history notes: we hope to publish some of the bird material for a wider audience in future Kenya Birds.
In the meantime — good birding!