Category: Blog

Winged Scientists: What Dragonflies Reveal About Our Water

Posted on by Christine Mwende

By Makena Murithi

Forget complex chemical tests. The most telling sign of a healthy freshwater ecosystem might be the iridescent flash of a dragonfly’s wing. There’s a familiar magic to a summer’s day by a pond, punctuated by the insect’s darting flight. Like a living jewel, a dragonfly hovers with prehistoric grace. But what if this beautiful acrobat is actually a tiny, winged scientist on a continuous monitoring mission? This is the power of a bioindicator: a species whose presence, absence, or abundance tells a story about the health of its habitat.

Dragonflies are among nature’s most eloquent messengers for freshwater health because they spend most of their lives not in the air, but as underwater nymphs. Breathing through gills, they are intimately connected to their aquatic environment, absorbing its conditions directly. This long juvenile stage, which can last for years, makes them highly vulnerable to changes. They are sensitive organisms, threatened by pollutants, silt that clogs their gills, and low oxygen levels. 

Different species have different tolerances, creating a natural indicator scale: a diverse population signals a clean, well-oxygenated habitat, whilst only a few pollution-tolerant species suggest a system under stress. Their complete absence is a major red flag.

This natural surveillance benefits us directly, as both nymphs and adults are voracious predators of mosquitoes and other pests.

Telling Aquatic Stories

Whilst the science is global, its application is powerfully local. Kenya is a hotspot for Odonata diversity, home to a stunning array of dragonflies and damselflies. The National Museums of Kenya Invertebrate Zoology collection acts as a vital ‘library of life,’ preserving specimens essential for identification and research.

By learning to recognise a few key species, we can read the stories written on the water. The presence of the striking Blue Basker (Urothemis edwardsii), a sentinel of health, indicates permanent, clean water. In contrast, the dominance of the beautiful but tolerant Broad Scarlet (Crocothemis erythraea) can signal a disturbed habitat. The majestic Blue Emperor (Anax imperator), a top predator, only patrols waters with a robust food web.

Join the Mission

You don’t need a lab coat to participate. Dragonflies are ideal for citizen science: they are active by day, conspicuous, and with apps like iNaturalist, it’s easier than ever to identify them. By simply visiting a local water source, observing the diversity of species, and logging your findings, you contribute valuable data to real scientific projects. Your observations become part of a crowd-sourced tool used by institutions like the National Museums of Kenya to track the health of our precious freshwater ecosystems.

Ultimately, protecting dragonflies means protecting the water we all depend on. So, the next time you see one skimming the surface, see it as more than a jewel. See it as a guardian and a scientist. Its silent flight is a living report card on the health of our most vital resource.

Visit the National Museums of Kenya to explore our incredible collections and learn more, or join a local wetland clean-up event to help ensure these winged scientists have a healthy home for generations to come.

KBA in Focus: Kakamega Forest

Posted on by Christine Mwende

By Joshua Sese 

Kakamega Forest Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) stands as Kenya’s only remnant of the ancient Guineo-Congolian rainforest that once covered much of Central Africa. Renowned for its exceptional biodiversity, the forest hosts numerous endemic and threatened species, including rare birds, butterflies, and primates such as the De Brazza’s monkey. Its rich ecosystem of towering trees, streams, and glades makes it a vital refuge for wildlife and an important site for research, conservation, and ecotourism.

Kakamega Forest faces numerous conservation challenges. Expanding agriculture, settlement, and illegal logging continue driving deforestation and habitat fragmentation, whilst overharvesting of firewood, timber, and medicinal plants places additional pressure on forest resources. The spread of invasive species, particularly guava and Lantana camara, has disrupted natural regeneration by outcompeting native plants and altering forest composition.

Poaching, encroachment, and weak enforcement of conservation laws compound these threats, as does climate change, which is shifting rainfall patterns and affecting the forest’s microclimate. Limited funding and community livelihood challenges also hinder effective management.

Several interventions are already underway to protect this unique rainforest. The Kenya Forest Service and Kenya Wildlife Service jointly manage the forest, focusing on protection, habitat restoration, and community engagement.

Community groups, including the Kakamega Forest Community Forest Association and the Kakamega Environmental Education Programme, work closely with government agencies to conserve the forest. These groups involve local residents in participatory forest management, promoting sustainable use of forest resources and alternative livelihoods such as beekeeping, ecotourism, and tree nurseries.

Reforestation and enrichment planting programmes are restoring degraded sections and controlling invasive species spread. Conservation organisations, including Nature Kenya, Friends of Kakamega Forest, and international partners, support biodiversity monitoring, environmental education, and awareness campaigns.

The area’s designation as a Key Biodiversity Area and Important Bird Area has helped attract research and conservation funding, enhancing long-term management planning and scientific understanding of this vital ecosystem. However, much more needs to be done to secure Kakamega’s future as the last stand of ancient rainforest in Kenya.

Common Whitethroats dominate Ngulia Bird Ringing 2025

Posted on by Christine Mwende

By Aloise Garvey

The 2025 Ngulia migratory bird ringing season ran from 11th to 25th November, starting earlier than usual due to an early new moon. Dark, moonless nights are crucial for successful catches, as migrating birds become attracted to the lights set up by ringers and fly into the mist nets below, where they’re quickly ringed and released.

However, this year presented unusual challenges. The rains came late, leaving Tsavo exceptionally dry. The first week saw almost no mist, resulting in just 908 birds ringed. Mist is essential because it disorients migrating birds, making them more likely to fly towards the lights. Without it, catches plunge.

A Remarkable Turnaround

The second week brought better conditions. On one remarkable night, 1,706 birds were ringed, with 1,117 of them being Common Whitethroats. This species dominated the season, making up 51 percent of all catches, a dramatic shift from the usual 17 percent seen over the past decade. Typically, Marsh Warblers dominate at Ngulia, making this year’s Common Whitethroat boom particularly intriguing. Ringers believe this surge may indicate exceptional breeding success in their European nesting grounds.

Despite lower overall numbers compared to previous years, the season delivered extraordinary rarities. An African Golden Oriole became a Ngulia first, whilst a European Red-rumped Swallow marked only the third record for Kenya. A Red-naped Bush-shrike appeared in the nets for the first time in 30 years, only the fifth ever recorded at the site. Other notable catches included a Pearl-spotted Owlet, two Black-necked Weavers (the 10th and 11th for Ngulia despite nesting nearby), a second-ever African Golden Pipit, Eastern Nicators, and the third African Orange-bellied Parrot.

Migration Stories Unfold

Recaptures told fascinating migration stories. A Thrush Nightingale ringed in 2022, retrapped in 2023, and caught again in 2025 became the first bird recaptured in three consecutive years at Ngulia. A Marsh Warbler ringed in November 2024 was recovered in Sweden seven months later, 7,133 kilometres away. Another Marsh Warbler ringed in December 2023 was found dead in northern Saudi Arabia in October 2025, nearly two years after ringing.

Beyond the nets, visible migration was spectacular. Hundreds of Amur Falcons, Steppe Eagles, and Eurasian Rollers streamed overhead, along with Montagu’s Harriers, European Honey Buzzards, Alpine Swifts, Madagascar Bee-eaters, Peregrine Falcons, and Booted Eagles. Positioned perfectly along a major migration route, Ngulia Safari Lodge offers ringside seats to one of nature’s greatest spectacles.

The Tana Delta Restorers: How Local Communities are Helping to Sustain Ancient Migration Routes

Posted on by Christine Mwende

By Milka Musyoki

As the first light of dawn breaks across the Tana Delta, Omar Ngama quietly adjusts his binoculars. This local community birder has witnessed something encouraging over the past few years: early signs that bird numbers, including migratory species, may be starting to recover along this stretch of Kenya’s coast.

“Yesterday, I saw some Yellow Wagtails in the restored grasslands,” Ngama recalls, his voice filled with cautious optimism. “We’re also seeing more Eurasian Bee-eaters during migration seasons. We cannot say for certain, but it seems the birds may be responding to our restoration work.”

Ngama is one of several community members monitoring sites across the Delta, tracking what appears to be the early stages of recovery at one of Kenya’s most important migratory bird stopover sites. Their careful observations are revealing an encouraging story of revival for both resident birds and the thousands of migratory species that depend on this ecosystem.

Ancient highways in the sky

Every year, millions of birds embark on epic journeys between their breeding grounds in Europe and Asia and their wintering areas in Africa. For centuries, the Tana Delta has served as a crucial rest stop along these ancient flight paths, where exhausted travellers find food, water and shelter before continuing their marathon journeys.

The Delta’s unique mix of wetlands, forests, woodlands and grasslands creates perfect stopover conditions for different species. Its grasslands provide crucial foraging areas for migrating birds like Yellow Wagtails, Eurasian Bee-eaters and various birds of prey, whilst wetlands teem with terns, sandpipers, plovers and other wading birds.

“Think of it like a service station on a very long motorway,” explains Paul Gacheru, Species and Sites Conservation Manager at Nature Kenya. “Migratory birds fly for thousands of kilometres and still have thousands more to go. Without places like the Tana Delta, many wouldn’t survive the journey.”

The Tana Delta is just one critical link in a vast network of stopover sites stretching from the Arctic to southern Africa. Recognised as both a Key Biodiversity Area and a Ramsar site (a wetland of international importance), the Delta’s global significance is well established. But habitat loss poses one of the greatest threats these ancient avian travellers face. The destruction of wetlands, forests and grasslands for agriculture, development or infrastructure can be devastating. A single critical stopover site lost can break the chain of migration.

The stopover degraded

The Delta faced mounting threats: proposed major developments, uncoordinated governance, resource over-exploitation, poor land use practices, encroachment, unsustainable agriculture, resource conflicts, diminishing water supplies and climate change. These combined pressures degraded the key habitats that birds and other wildlife depended upon, causing once-vibrant flocks to dwindle.

A solution came through developing a participatory land use plan, completed in 2015, to guide policy and decision-making. In 2019, the Tana Restoration Initiative (TRI) project, funded by the Global Environment Facility through the United Nations Environment Programme and implemented by Nature Kenya, began supporting community-driven restoration efforts.

Instead of dictating solutions, the project asked communities what they needed and how their traditional knowledge could guide restoration efforts.

Ngama was among the first volunteers to join his village’s Natural Resource and Land Use Committee. “I grew up seeing birds, but I never understood how important our Delta was to birds from so far away,” he says. “Learning about their migration patterns changed everything. These aren’t just ‘our’ birds – we’re caring for birds that belong to the whole world.”

The restoration work focuses on habitat improvements benefiting communities, migratory birds and the Delta’s broader wildlife. Communities now collect tree and grass seeds, then plant them in degraded landscapes using methods passed down through generations.

“We know what grows well in our landscapes, and when to plant for the best success. The TRI project enhanced the indigenous knowledge we already had,” says Namkuu Dara, a community leader from Ozi.

To date, a total of 10,467 hectares of degraded landscapes, including grasslands and forests, have been restored. 

The feathered travellers’ return

While it’s early to gauge the full impact of restoration activities on migratory bird numbers, Ngama remains optimistic. As he packs away his binoculars after another morning of monitoring, he reflects on what the gradual return of migrants might mean.

“These visiting birds have been making their journeys for thousands of years,” Ngama concludes. “If our restoration work helps even some of them continue making it for thousands more, we’re part of something much bigger than just our Delta.”

The Tana Delta’s story demonstrates how local communities can become vital links in a global conservation network. The real success lies not just in returning bird numbers, but in communities understanding their role as custodians of one crucial stop along these ancient highways in the sky.

KBA in Focus: Kwenia

Posted on by Christine Mwende

By Joshua Sese

Situated in the centre of Kajiado County’s semi-arid landscape, Kwenia Key Biodiversity Area harbours remarkable biodiversity across its cliffs, plains, and seasonal wetlands. Its soaring cliffs offer vital breeding grounds for vultures, including the endangered Rüppell’s Vulture, while Lake Kwenia and the surrounding savannahs support abundant birdlife and wildlife.

Kwenia faces conservation challenges that threaten its fragile ecosystems and globally significant vulture colonies. The most urgent issue is vulture poisoning, which occurs both intentionally as retaliation against predators and unintentionally through poisoned livestock carcasses left in the landscape. Habitat degradation from expanding livestock grazing, agriculture, and settlements is encroaching on grasslands and seasonal wetlands, reducing habitat quality for birds and other wildlife.

Human-wildlife conflict drives these pressures, while climate variability and extended droughts impact seasonal Lake Kwenia, reducing its ability to sustain migratory birds. These threats are intensified by the site’s lack of formal legal protection and limited conservation resources, making the area susceptible to unregulated land-use change.

But the story of Kwenia isn’t one of inevitable decline. Conservation is already taking root through a partnership between Maasai landowners, the Kenya Bird of Prey Trust, and conservation groups. A proposed 12,600-hectare Vulture Sanctuary now protects the cliffs and seasonal lake, with long-term monitoring confirming over 200 breeding Rüppell’s Vultures alongside other species like the Egyptian Vulture.

Community volunteers actively monitor vulture nests and raise awareness about the dangers of poisoning, while landowners have signed a Sanctuary Trust deed to secure the site’s future. These actions blend science and community stewardship, laying a strong foundation for protecting one of East Africa’s last great vulture strongholds.

Without stronger protection, awareness, and coordinated conservation efforts, Kwenia’s ecological and cultural values remain at risk. But with continued community leadership and support, this remarkable landscape can thrive as both a vulture sanctuary and a model for community-led conservation.