The birds, mammals, butterflies, reptiles, amphibians and plants recorded in Oloolua Forest, 618 hectares of indigenous forest in Karen, Nairobi.
0 of these species have public sighting records within a few kilometres of the trail, from eBird checklists and iNaturalist observations. The rest are marked as likely present.
Showing 191 of 191 species
Turdus abyssinicus
The common thrush of highland Kenya, olive-brown with an orange bill and belly. It runs and pauses along the tracks, turning over leaves, and sings from treetops at dawn.
Habitat: Forest floor, tracks and edges
Likely present
Aerangis brachycarpa
An epiphytic orchid that grows on the branches of forest trees and hangs sprays of white, long-spurred flowers that release their scent at night for hawkmoths.
Habitat: Branches of mature trees
Likely present
Anas sparsa
A dark, shy duck of forest streams rather than open lakes, seen in pairs paddling along shaded rocky stretches. It flies off low along the watercourse when disturbed.
Habitat: Shaded stream
Likely present
Oriolus larvatus
Golden-yellow with a black hood and a coral-red bill, an oriole is usually located by its liquid, fluting call before a flash of yellow crosses a gap in the canopy.
Habitat: Canopy of tall trees
Likely present
Belenois creona
A common white with black borders and yellow underside markings, sometimes migrating through in huge numbers after the rains.
Habitat: Open edges and gardens
Likely present
Prunus africana
A tall forest tree with dark, glossy leaves that smell of almonds when crushed and bark used worldwide in prostate medicines. Unsustainable bark harvesting has made it vulnerable across Africa.
Habitat: Moister, taller forest
Likely present
Crithagra citrinelloides
A small yellow-and-green canary of the highlands; the male has a black face. It feeds on seeding herbs at the forest edge and sings a sweet, sustained song.
Habitat: Forest edge and weedy clearings
Likely present
Muscicapa adusta
A tiny, plain brown flycatcher that sits on a low branch, darts out for a fly and returns to the same perch. Easy to overlook, easy to watch once found.
Habitat: Shaded edges and stream-side trees
Likely present
Chrysococcyx cupreus
Brilliant metallic green with a lemon-yellow belly, this canopy cuckoo is hard to see against sunlit leaves. Its four-note whistle, "hel-lo Ju-dy", is unmistakable.
Habitat: Upper canopy of mature forest
Likely present
Accipiter tachiro
A secretive forest hawk, best detected by its sharp "krit" call given every few seconds while it circles high above the trees at dawn. It ambushes birds and squirrels from cover.
Habitat: Forest interior; displays overhead at dawn
Likely present
Zizeeria knysna
A tiny violet-blue butterfly that flutters close to the ground over short grass and settles with wings half open. Common along the tracks.
Habitat: Short grass along tracks
Likely present
Treron calvus
A parrot-like green pigeon that clambers around fruiting figs, often unnoticed until a whole flock explodes from the tree. Its calls are an odd mixture of whistles, clicks and growls.
Habitat: Fruiting fig trees in the canopy
Likely present
Polyboroides typus
A large grey raptor with a bare yellow face and long, double-jointed legs, which it uses to reach into tree holes and weaver nests for chicks. It clambers about in the canopy like no other bird of prey.
Habitat: Tall trees and canopy
Likely present
Terpsiphone viridis
Chestnut wings, a blue-grey head and, in breeding males, tail streamers twice the body length that ripple through the forest as the bird sallies after insects. Both rufous and white male forms occur.
Habitat: Mid-storey and forest edge
Likely present
Gonometa postica
A furry brown moth whose caterpillars spin tough silk cocoons on acacia and other trees. The cocoons are harvested for wild silk elsewhere in Africa.
Habitat: Trees at the forest edge
Likely present
Trachylepis striata
The glossy, pale-striped skink that suns itself on rocks, walls and the trail buildings, snapping up insects and darting away if a shadow falls.
Habitat: Rocks, walls and sunny logs
Likely present
Strix woodfordii
The forest owl of Kenya, round-headed with dark eyes and a barred belly. Pairs duet after dark with a rhythmic "who-who, who-who-who" and hunt insects and rodents from low perches.
Habitat: Mature forest with dense canopy
Likely present
Leptosia alcesta
A delicate, weak-flying white butterfly with a single black spot on each forewing that flutters slowly through the shaded understorey, rarely rising above knee height.
Habitat: Shaded forest understorey
Likely present
Chalcomitra amethystina
A velvety black sunbird with a metallic green crown and an amethyst throat that flashes purple in sunlight. Females are streaky brown.
Habitat: Flowering trees at the forest edge
Likely present
Ptychadena anchietae
A sharp-nosed, long-legged frog with ridges along its back, capable of prodigious leaps from the grassy edges of pools into cover.
Habitat: Grass around pools and the swamp
Likely present
Angraecum erectum
A small epiphytic orchid with stiff leaves and tiny white flowers, recorded on trees around the trail. Easy to miss until it flowers.
Habitat: Tree branches in shaded forest
Likely present
Papilio phorcas
The most-recorded butterfly around the trail: a large black swallowtail with broad apple-green patches on the wings that flies fast along forest paths and settles on damp ground. Its caterpillars feed on the forest's Vepris and citrus relatives.
Habitat: Forest paths and sunlit edges
Likely present
Buteo augur
A handsome black-and-white buzzard with a short rufous tail, often soaring over the forest edge or perched on a tall dead tree. A dark form also occurs.
Habitat: Soaring over the forest; edges
Likely present
Hieraaetus ayresii
A small, powerful forest eagle, heavily spotted below, that hunts birds in fast dashes through the canopy. Scarce and easily overlooked among the commoner raptors.
Habitat: Forest canopy
Likely present
Ploceus baglafecht
The common yellow weaver of the Kenyan highlands, with a black face mask in the male and pale eyes. Unlike most weavers it nests singly rather than in colonies.
Habitat: Forest edge, gardens and the entrance area
Likely present
Bambusa vulgaris
The tall clumps of golden-green bamboo at the rest point were planted and are not native to the forest, but they make one of the most photographed spots on the trail, arching over the stream.
Habitat: The bamboo rest point by the stream
Likely present
Philothamnus battersbyi
Another harmless green snake of the Kenyan highlands, usually found in bushes near water where it hunts frogs and lizards by day.
Habitat: Bushes near water
Likely present
Campephaga flava
The all-black male, sometimes with yellow shoulder patches, creeps through foliage searching for caterpillars; the female is a barred, yellow-and-olive bird easily mistaken for a cuckoo.
Habitat: Canopy and mid-storey
Likely present
Milvus migrans
The familiar fork-tailed scavenger of Nairobi skies, wheeling over the forest in numbers. The resident African form has a yellow bill; migrants from Europe have black bills.
Habitat: Overhead, and around the campsite
Likely present
Psalidoprocne pristoptera
An all-black, fork-tailed swallow that flutters low over forest paths and streams, catching insects in the shade. It nests in burrows in earth banks.
Habitat: Forest paths, clearings and the stream
Likely present
Accipiter melanoleucus
The largest African sparrowhawk, black above and white below, nesting high in tall eucalyptus and hunting doves and pigeons in fast, low flights.
Habitat: Tall trees, including the eucalyptus patches
Likely present
Dryoscopus cubla
A small black-and-white bushshrike named for the male's habit of puffing out the long white feathers of its back into a ball during display. Its sharp clicking call is constant in the canopy.
Habitat: Canopy and forest edge
Likely present
Oreolais pulcher
A highland apalis with a black breast band and chestnut flanks that swings its long tail from side to side as it forages in low vegetation.
Habitat: Undergrowth and forest edge
Likely present
Thunbergia alata
A twining creeper native to East Africa, with orange flowers and a dark central eye, that scrambles over shrubs along the sunnier paths. The most-recorded plant around the trail.
Habitat: Sunny forest edges and scrub
Likely present
Platysteira peltata
A small black-and-white flycatcher-like bird with a fleshy red wattle above the eye. Pairs keep in touch with soft, wheezy notes as they forage in the mid-storey near water.
Habitat: Forest near the stream
Likely present
Junonia oenone
A black pansy with white forewing bars and a brilliant blue patch on each hindwing, common in open sunny spots across Kenya and recorded at the forest edge.
Habitat: Open edges and gardens
Likely present
Charaxes cithaeron
A big, tailed emperor, black with a blue-white band and blue spots, that perches high on sunlit leaves and dashes out to chase rivals.
Habitat: Canopy and sunlit edges
Likely present
Lonchura cucullata
Tiny, sociable finches that feed in flocks on grass seeds along the track, rising as one when disturbed. Brown and white with a glossy green-bronze shoulder.
Habitat: Grassy edges and the entrance track
Likely present
Nectarinia kilimensis
A large, long-tailed sunbird; the male looks black until the light catches its bronze-green sheen. It favours tall flowering trees and aloes at the forest edge.
Habitat: Forest edge and gardens
Likely present
Dendropicos obsoletus
A plain brown-backed woodpecker that forages low on trunks and even fence posts. Less common than the Cardinal Woodpecker but regular around the trail edges.
Habitat: Open woodland and edges
Likely present
Chamaetylas poliocephala
A ground-loving thrush-like bird of the forest floor, brown above with a grey crown. Rarely seen well, it follows columns of driver ants to snatch fleeing insects.
Habitat: Forest floor with deep leaf litter
Likely present
Tchagra australis
A bushshrike of low scrub with rufous wings and a striped crown. Males perform a fluttering display flight over the bushes while giving a descending whistle.
Habitat: Scrub and forest edge
Likely present
Tragelaphus scriptus
A medium-sized, dark antelope with white spots and stripes, reported from the forest and present in the neighbouring Ngong Road forest. Solitary and shy, it browses in thick cover at dawn and dusk and barks like a dog when alarmed.
Habitat: Dense undergrowth near water
Likely present
Phyllastrephus cabanisi
A rufous-tailed greenbul that travels in noisy family parties through the lower forest, chattering harshly as it probes bark and dead leaves for insects.
Habitat: Lower forest levels and tangled vines
Likely present
Calodendrum capense
For a few weeks each year this tree turns the canopy pink with masses of large, star-shaped flowers, followed by knobbly capsules that split to drop black seeds.
Habitat: Forest canopy and edges
Likely present
Dessonornis caffer
A greyer cousin of Rüppell's Robin-Chat, with orange only on the throat and tail. It hops confidently along path edges and is often the first bird moving at dawn.
Habitat: Forest edge, scrub and the picnic area
Likely present
Lycophidion capense
A small, dark, nocturnal snake with a flattened head and long recurved teeth for holding the skinks it hunts under logs and in leaf litter. Harmless to people.
Habitat: Leaf litter and under logs
Likely present
Dendropicos fuscescens
The small, common woodpecker of Kenyan woodland, with a red crown in the male and a streaked belly. Its rapid tapping and rattling call give it away.
Habitat: Forest edge and dead wood
Likely present
Batis molitor
A neat black, white and grey bird of the forest edge; the female wears a chestnut breast band and throat spot. Its three descending whistles sound like "three blind mice".
Habitat: Forest edge and open woodland
Likely present
Merops oreobates
The resident bee-eater of the Kenyan highlands, green above with a cinnamon breast and a yellow throat. It hawks insects from bare branches above clearings and along the stream.
Habitat: Clearings, stream banks and the campsite
Likely present
Hedydipna collaris
A tiny, short-billed sunbird, metallic green above and yellow below, that behaves more like a warbler, gleaning insects from leaves as much as taking nectar.
Habitat: Forest canopy and edges
Likely present
Zenonia zeno
A small orange-and-brown skipper that darts between grass stems on the sunny edges and rests with its forewings raised like a moth.
Habitat: Grassy edges
Likely present
Pycnonotus barbatus
The cheerful, dark-headed bulbul with a yellow vent that is everywhere in Kenya. Around the trail it is loudest at the entrance and picnic areas.
Habitat: Edges, gardens and clearings
Likely present
Bicyclus safitza
A dusky brown butterfly with small eyespots that flits low through shady undergrowth and settles on the path with wings closed. One of the commonest butterflies inside the forest and easy to overlook.
Habitat: Shaded forest floor
Likely present
Dasypeltis scabra
A harmless snake that eats nothing but birds' eggs, swallowing them whole and cracking them with spurs on its spine before spitting out the shell. Its rhombic markings mimic the venomous night adder.
Habitat: Trees and scrub near bird nests
Likely present
Melanitis leda
A large brown butterfly that flies at dusk and dawn, resting by day among dead leaves where its cryptic underside makes it almost invisible.
Habitat: Leaf litter and shaded undergrowth
Likely present
Sphodromantis gastrica
A large green praying mantis that waits motionless on leaves and flowers for insects to come within reach of its spined forelegs.
Habitat: Shrubs and flowers
Likely present
Protogoniomorpha parhassus
A large, pale butterfly with a pearly pink-green sheen and small eyespots, gliding through the shaded forest interior on broad wings. One of the most beautiful residents of the trail.
Habitat: Shaded forest interior
Likely present
Luscinia megarhynchos
A plain brown European songbird that winters in East African thickets. It is almost silent and invisible here, and the handful of local records are a reminder of how far migrants travel to reach this forest.
Habitat: Dense thickets on the forest edge
Likely present
Hyperolius viridiflavus
A small, brightly patterned tree frog that clings to reeds and papyrus around the swamp and pools. After rain, choruses of males give a shrill, insistent piping from dusk onwards.
Habitat: Papyrus swamp and vegetation around pools
Likely present
Croton megalocarpus
The dominant canopy tree of Nairobi's upland forests, with a flat-topped crown, silvery undersides to the leaves and heavy crops of large seeds that Sykes' monkeys and hornbills feed on. Known as Musine in Kikuyu.
Habitat: Upper canopy throughout the forest
Likely present
Stephanoaetus coronatus
Africa's most powerful eagle and the reason a wooden watchtower stands in the forest. A pair has bred here for many years, and their loud, rising display calls carry over the canopy in the breeding season. Broad, rounded wings and a long barred tail identify soaring birds.
Habitat: Tall emergent trees for the nest; hunts through the canopy
Likely present
Hypolimnas misippus
The male is velvet black with large white spots ringed in purple; the female mimics the Plain Tiger so closely that only the flight gives her away.
Habitat: Forest edge and open ground
Likely present
Telchinia serena
A small orange acraea with black-tipped forewings that flies with slow, fluttering wingbeats in sunny clearings. Like all acraeas it is distasteful to birds and flies without fear.
Habitat: Sunny clearings and edges
Likely present
Platycypha caligata
A stocky damselfly of clear forest streams; the male has a red-and-blue abdomen and swollen white legs that it waves in a courtship dance over the water. Well recorded along the stream below the waterfall.
Habitat: Rocky, shaded stream
Likely present
Chrysococcyx caprius
A glossy green cuckoo of open areas that parasitises weavers. Its call, "dee-dee-deederik", gives the bird its name and is a sound of the rainy season.
Habitat: Forest edge near weaver colonies
Likely present
Precis tugela
With wings closed this butterfly is a dead leaf, complete with midrib and veins; open, it is dark with a rusty band. It rests among leaf litter on the forest floor.
Habitat: Leaf litter in shaded forest
Likely present
Streptopelia lugens
A dark, highland dove with a black neck patch and rusty edges to the wing feathers. It prefers the cooler, taller forest and is quieter than the Red-eyed Dove.
Habitat: Tall forest and forest edge
Likely present
Elapsoidea loveridgei
A small, secretive, black-and-white banded snake of the forest floor that hunts other reptiles at night. It is mildly venomous but placid; like all snakes here, leave it alone and it will leave you alone.
Habitat: Leaf litter and under logs
Likely present
Warburgia ugandensis
A glossy evergreen whose bark and leaves burn the tongue with a peppery heat. One of the most important trees in East African herbal medicine, used for chest complaints, and heavily stripped of bark elsewhere as a result.
Habitat: Mid-canopy of the moister forest
Likely present
Tachyoryctes splendens
Rarely seen but everywhere underfoot: the fresh mounds of red soil along grassy edges are pushed up by this burrowing rodent as it tunnels for roots and bulbs.
Habitat: Underground in grassy edges and clearings
Likely present
Lachnoptera ayresii
An orange butterfly with heavy black blotches, typical of highland forest edges, that basks on sunlit leaves with wings flat.
Habitat: Forest edge
Likely present
Mylothris agathina
A white or cream butterfly with a neat row of black dots along the wing margins, flying slowly around mistletoe-infested trees, on which its caterpillars feed.
Habitat: Canopy edges with mistletoe
Likely present
Turtur chalcospilos
A small dove of the forest edge with two rows of iridescent green spots on the wings. Its descending, slowing series of coos is one of the best-known bird sounds in Kenya.
Habitat: Forest edges, clearings and the campsite
Likely present
Eucalyptus saligna
Australian gum trees planted in blocks within the forest decades ago for timber. They grow fast and draw a lot of water, and the Kenya Forest Service is gradually replacing such plantations with indigenous trees.
Habitat: Plantation blocks
Likely present
Merops apiaster
Flocks of these multicoloured migrants pass over the forest in the northern autumn and spring, their liquid "prruip" calls drifting down from high overhead.
Habitat: Overhead on passage
Likely present
Scadoxus multiflorus
A bulb that pushes up a single scarlet globe of flowers, the size of a football, from the bare forest floor at the start of the rains, before its leaves appear.
Habitat: Shaded forest floor
Likely present
Polyspilota aeruginosa
A large mantis in shades of brown and green that raises and spreads its patterned wings like a flag when threatened.
Habitat: Shrubs and low trees
Likely present
Gloriosa superba
A climbing lily that hauls itself up shrubs with tendrils at its leaf tips and opens flame-shaped flowers of red and yellow. Every part of the plant is poisonous.
Habitat: Forest edge and scrub
Likely present
Adolfus kibonotensis
A slender, long-tailed lizard with a green-flecked back that basks on logs and tree trunks in sun-flecks and vanishes into the leaf litter when approached. Surprisingly well recorded here for such a quiet animal.
Habitat: Sunlit logs and trunks inside the forest
Likely present
Belenois zochalia
A white butterfly with black wing margins that drifts along the sunlit edges of the forest and gathers on damp sand. Its caterpillars feed on capers.
Habitat: Forest edge and damp ground
Likely present
Atelerix albiventris
A small, white-bellied hedgehog that snuffles through leaf litter at night for beetles, worms and millipedes, rolling into a ball of spines if disturbed.
Habitat: Forest floor and grassy edges
Likely present
Precis octavia
A butterfly with two seasonal forms so different they were once thought separate species: orange with black spots in the wet season, deep blue-black with red bands in the dry.
Habitat: Forest edge and scrub
Likely present
Megaceryle maxima
Africa's largest kingfisher, crow-sized with a shaggy crest and a heavy black bill. It hunts crabs and fish from branches overhanging the stream and gives a harsh, rattling call.
Habitat: Wooded stream banks
Likely present
Trachylepis megalura
A slim skink with a very long tail that climbs grass stems and low shrubs rather than staying on the ground. Found on the grassy edges of the tracks.
Habitat: Grassy edges and clearings
Likely present
Cheilanthes viridis
A fern of shaded rocks and stream banks whose fronds curl up in the dry season and unfurl again with the first rain.
Habitat: Shaded rocks by the stream and caves
Likely present
Phymateus viridipes
A huge, slow, green-and-yellow grasshopper that feeds on toxic plants and flashes bright red-and-blue hindwings when disturbed. It advertises its poison and needs no camouflage.
Habitat: Shrubs at the forest edge
Likely present
Philothamnus hoplogaster
A slim, bright green, harmless snake that hunts frogs along the stream and swims well. Easily mistaken for a mamba by nervous walkers; it is neither venomous nor aggressive.
Habitat: Stream banks and the swamp
Likely present
Camaroptera brachyura
A tiny, tail-cocking warbler of the undergrowth whose nasal, bleating call has earned it the nickname "bleating warbler". It is one of the most frequently recorded birds on the trail.
Habitat: Undergrowth and thickets everywhere
Likely present
Prodotiscus zambesiae
A tiny, warbler-like honeyguide that fans its white outer tail feathers in flight. It parasitises the nests of white-eyes and apalises.
Habitat: Canopy and forest edge
Likely present
Cyanomitra verticalis
A grey-bellied sunbird whose metallic green head and throat shine blue in some lights. Less flashy than its relatives, it keeps to shaded forest edges.
Habitat: Shaded forest edge
Likely present
Charaxes candiope
A powerful, fast-flying orange-brown emperor with green veins on the underside. Emperors rarely visit flowers; look for them feeding on fermenting fruit, sap and animal droppings.
Habitat: Canopy and forest paths
Likely present
Grewia similis
A shrub with rough, three-veined leaves and small pink-mauve flowers, common in the drier forest edges and browsed by suni and bushbuck.
Habitat: Dry forest edge
Likely present
Apalis cinerea
A plain grey-and-white apalis of the high canopy, found in pairs that keep up a loud, two-note duet. Typical of taller, wetter patches of the forest.
Habitat: Upper canopy
Likely present
Balearica regulorum
Kenya's most elegant bird, with a golden crown of stiff feathers, is recorded flying over and around the wetter ground near the forest. Its honking, trumpet-like calls carry a long way.
Habitat: Wet grassland and swamp edges nearby
Likely present
Eminia lepida
A chunky green warbler with a grey cap and chestnut throat patch, skulking in dense tangles near water. It has a loud, explosive song out of all proportion to its size.
Habitat: Thickets along the stream
Likely present
Amblyospiza albifrons
A heavy-billed, dark brown weaver; the male has a white forehead and white wing patches. It builds a beautifully finely woven nest slung between reeds.
Habitat: Papyrus swamp and stream-side reeds
Likely present
Sclerophrys gutturalis
The large, warty toad of the Kenyan highlands, named for the male's deep, snoring call at breeding pools. It hunts insects on the forest floor at night and is often seen on the tracks after rain.
Habitat: Forest floor; breeds in pools and the weir
Likely present
Bostrychia hagedash
The large, glossy ibis whose raucous "ha-ha-ha-daaa" announces dawn across Karen. It probes lawns and stream banks with its long, curved bill and roosts in tall trees.
Habitat: Stream banks, wet ground and treetop roosts
Likely present
Scopus umbretta
A dull brown, hammer-headed water bird that stalks the stream and pools for frogs and small fish. Its enormous domed stick nest, built in a tree fork, can weigh more than 25 kg.
Habitat: The stream, weir pool and swamp
Likely present
Tauraco hartlaubi
The signature bird of Nairobi's forests and the second most-recorded species around the trail. Glossy blue-green with a blue-black crest and a white mark before the eye, it bounds along branches and only shows its crimson flight feathers when it launches across a gap.
Habitat: Canopy of fruiting trees, especially figs and Croton
Likely present
Ploceus xanthops
A large, plain golden-yellow weaver with a heavy bill and pale eye, usually in pairs near water. Its song is a jumble of swizzling notes.
Habitat: Vegetation along the stream and swamp
Likely present
Trioceros jacksonii
The three-horned chameleon of the Kenyan highlands and the most-recorded reptile around the trail. Males carry three forward-pointing horns like a tiny Triceratops; females usually have none. It clings to shrubs and low branches, changing colour with mood and temperature.
Habitat: Shrubs and low branches along the paths
Likely present
Papilio jacksoni
A highland forest swallowtail, black with a band of cream-yellow spots and small red marks near the tails. It patrols the shadier paths and is well recorded here.
Habitat: Shaded forest paths
Likely present
Orthetrum julia
A powder-blue dragonfly that perches on rocks and twigs beside the pools, returning to the same spot after each sortie.
Habitat: Pools and the weir
Likely present
Dovyalis caffra
A viciously thorny shrub or small tree with sharp-tasting yellow fruits the size of a plum, eaten by monkeys and birds and made into jam by people.
Habitat: Forest edge and scrub
Likely present
Afrocanthium keniense
A small understorey tree of the central Kenyan highlands with neat opposite leaves and small greenish flowers, well recorded along the trail. Its fruits are eaten by birds and monkeys.
Habitat: Forest understorey
Likely present
Phrynobatrachus keniensis
A thumbnail-sized brown frog that lives around temporary puddles and stream edges, giving a soft, ticking call. Easily overlooked underfoot.
Habitat: Puddles and stream margins
Likely present
Zosterops kikuyuensis
A yellow-green warbler-like bird with a broad white eye-ring, found only in the central Kenyan highlands. Flocks move quickly through the canopy with soft, tinkling calls.
Habitat: Canopy and forest edge
Likely present
Leptosiaphos kilimensis
A tiny, dark, snake-like skink that lives in the leaf litter and under logs, rarely seen unless a log is turned. Its limbs are so small it moves by wriggling.
Habitat: Leaf litter and rotting logs
Likely present
Chrysococcyx klaas
A small emerald-and-white cuckoo whose plaintive, six-note whistle is common at the forest edge. Males are glossy green above with a white spot behind the eye.
Habitat: Forest edge and gardens
Likely present
Lantana camara
A South American shrub with multicoloured flower heads that has invaded forest edges across Kenya, crowding out native plants. Butterflies love its nectar, which is the one good thing to say for it.
Habitat: Disturbed forest edges
Likely present
Xylocopa flavorufa
A big, loud, black-and-yellow bee that bores nest tunnels into dead wood and visits the forest's larger flowers. Its buzz is deeper than any honeybee's.
Habitat: Dead wood and flowering trees
Likely present
Columba larvata
A shy, cinnamon-brown dove of the forest floor with a pale grey face. It walks quietly through leaf litter beneath dense cover and flushes with a clatter when surprised. One of the specialities birders come to Oloolua to see.
Habitat: Dark forest floor and stream-side undergrowth
Likely present
Indicator minor
A stocky, sparrow-like honeyguide that calls for hours from a favourite perch. Like all honeyguides it lays its eggs in other birds' nests, usually barbets.
Habitat: Forest edge and woodland
Likely present
Cecropis abyssinica
A rufous-headed swallow with heavily streaked underparts that builds a mud nest with a tunnel entrance under bridges and roofs, including the trail buildings.
Habitat: Around buildings, the entrance and the campsite
Likely present
Junonia sophia
A small orange-and-brown pansy with a row of eyespots, common on grassy edges and around the campsite.
Habitat: Grassy edges and clearings
Likely present
Lophaetus occipitalis
A blackish eagle with a floppy crest and white "windows" in the wings, usually perched conspicuously on a bare tree or pole watching for rodents.
Habitat: Forest edge and clearings
Likely present
Papilio mackinnoni
A black swallowtail with a bold yellow-cream band, found in highland forests of Kenya and its neighbours. Scarcer than the Apple-green Swallowtail but recorded along the trail.
Habitat: Forest interior and edges
Likely present
Corythornis cristatus
A tiny, dazzling kingfisher, ultramarine above and rufous below with a scarlet bill, perched low over quiet water. It dives for small fish and tadpoles in the pools.
Habitat: Quiet pools on the stream and the swamp edge
Likely present
Eurema floricola
The small lemon-yellow butterflies with dark wing tips that flit along every track and gather on damp earth. Several similar grass yellows occur here and are hard to tell apart in flight.
Habitat: Tracks, edges and damp ground
Likely present
Atilax paludinosus
A dark, thick-furred mongoose that lives along the stream and papyrus swamp, feeling under stones with its bare-soled paws for crabs and frogs.
Habitat: Stream banks and the swamp
Likely present
Papilio dardanus
The male is a pale yellow, tailed swallowtail; the females come in several tailless forms that mimic distasteful butterflies such as the Plain Tiger. One species, many costumes.
Habitat: Forest edge and gardens
Likely present
Caprimulgus poliocephalus
A nightjar of the highland forest edge whose whistled "peeu-peeuu" call is a familiar sound at dusk. By day it sits invisible on leaf litter or along a branch.
Habitat: Forest edge and clearings
Likely present
Motacilla clara
A slim grey-and-white wagtail that lives along fast, rocky forest streams, bobbing its long tail as it runs over wet stones by the weir and waterfall.
Habitat: Rocky stream and waterfall
Likely present
Brachylaena huillensis
A slow-growing hardwood with a fluted trunk and leaves silvery-white beneath. Its dense, aromatic wood was so prized for carving that Muhugu has been cut out of much of its range; the old trees of Karen and Oloolua are among the survivors.
Habitat: Drier parts of the forest
Likely present
Apaloderma narina
A jewel of the forest interior: emerald back, scarlet belly, and a habit of sitting motionless for minutes at a time. Its soft, repeated hoot is easy to overlook, so most sightings come from scanning mid-level branches where a bird has just turned to show its red front.
Habitat: Shaded mid-storey of mature forest
Likely present
Papilio nireus
A velvet-black swallowtail with a single band of shimmering blue-green across both wings, tailless and fast. It often visits Lantana flowers at the forest edge.
Habitat: Forest edge and flowering shrubs
Likely present
Ptychadena nilotica
A close relative of Anchieta's Ridged Frog, told apart by its call and the pattern on its thighs. Both breed in the shallow, weedy water of the swamp.
Habitat: Shallow weedy water
Likely present
Papilio nobilis
A tawny-orange swallowtail of East African highland forest, quite unlike its black relatives. It flies high around the canopy and drops to feed on flowers in clearings.
Habitat: Canopy and clearings
Likely present
Cinnyris reichenowi
A small highland sunbird, green with a scarlet breast band, that works through flowering shrubs and mistletoe in the mid-storey.
Habitat: Mid-storey and forest edge
Likely present
Paraxerus ochraceus
A small, grizzled-brown squirrel with a yellowish underside that runs along branches and up trunks in the daytime. It gives a series of sharp clicks when alarmed and flicks its tail.
Habitat: Tree trunks and branches throughout the forest
Likely present
Daphnis nerii
A big hawkmoth patterned in swirling olive, pink and white like army camouflage. It hovers at flowers after dusk and is drawn to lights at the campsite.
Habitat: Around flowers and lights at night
Likely present
Papio anubis
Troops of baboons range along the river and through the drier forest edges, foraging on the ground for roots, fruit and insects. Keep food out of sight: they are bold around picnic areas.
Habitat: River banks and forest edges
Likely present
Cyperus papyrus
The giant sedge of the papyrus swamp, its tall stems topped with feathery green heads. The swamp filters the stream, shelters frogs and reed frogs, and is one of the landmarks on the trail.
Habitat: The papyrus swamp
Likely present
Heteromorpha arborescens
A small tree with peeling, papery bark and leaves that smell of parsley when crushed, which betrays its membership of the carrot family.
Habitat: Forest edge and rocky ground
Likely present
Lampides boeticus
A small blue with fine white tails and a pair of eyespots on the hindwing, found wherever legumes flower. One of the most widespread butterflies in the world.
Habitat: Flowering legumes at the forest edge
Likely present
Charaxes varanes
A pearly-white and tawny emperor that patrols forest edges at speed and feeds on tree sap and fallen fruit.
Habitat: Forest edge
Likely present
Sphaerocoris annulus
A small shield bug painted in green, black and orange rings, as if by the artist. It feeds on plant juices and gives off a sharp smell if handled.
Habitat: Shrubs and herbs at the forest edge
Likely present
Eurytela hiarbas
A small dark butterfly with a broad white band across both wings that settles on leaves along shaded paths with wings open.
Habitat: Shaded paths
Likely present
Dombeya burgessiae
A large shrub with soft, heart-shaped leaves and clusters of pale pink flowers that hum with bees. The papery flowers persist on the plant long after they fade.
Habitat: Forest edge and stream banks
Likely present
Danaus chrysippus
The orange-and-black milkweed butterfly familiar across Africa and Asia. Its caterpillars feed on toxic milkweeds, making the adult distasteful, which is why so many other butterflies imitate it.
Habitat: Open edges and gardens
Likely present
Uraeginthus ianthinogaster
A waxbill of dry scrub with a purple-blue belly and rufous head in the male. Around the trail it appears on the sunnier, drier edges.
Habitat: Dry scrub at the forest edge
Likely present
Strychnos henningsii
A small evergreen tree with pairs of dark leaves and orange-red fruits, used in traditional medicine. A close relative of the tree that yields strychnine.
Habitat: Dry forest and rocky ground
Likely present
Lagonosticta senegala
A small crimson finch with a pink bill and tiny white flank spots, hopping about on the ground in pairs. The Village Indigobird lays its eggs in its nests.
Habitat: Grassy edges and the campsite
Likely present
Uraeginthus bengalus
A powder-blue waxbill; the male has a crimson cheek patch. Pairs feed quietly on the ground at the forest edge and give thin, high calls.
Habitat: Open edges and the picnic area
Likely present
Cuculus solitarius
Heard far more than seen: its insistent three-note "it-will-rain" call rings through the forest for weeks in the breeding season, sometimes through the night.
Habitat: Canopy of tall forest
Likely present
Streptopelia semitorquata
The large, common dove of Karen gardens and forest edges, with a black half-collar and a red ring around the eye. Its six-note call is a backdrop to every walk.
Habitat: Forest edges, gardens, the entrance track
Likely present
Trithemis arteriosa
A scarlet dragonfly with red-veined wings that holds its wings drooped forward when perched on stems above still water.
Habitat: Swamp and still pools
Likely present
Cossypha semirufa
Orange below, slate above, with a bold white eyebrow, this is the robin-chat of the forest interior. It sings a rich, varied song from cover and is a gifted mimic of other birds.
Habitat: Forest undergrowth and shaded paths
Likely present
Genetta maculata
A cat-like nocturnal carnivore with a spotted coat and a long ringed tail that hunts along branches and the forest floor. Torchlight from the campsite is the best chance of a look.
Habitat: Trees and forest floor at night
Likely present
Bycanistes brevis
A huge black-and-white hornbill with a pale casque, more typical of the moister forests to the east. It turns up at Oloolua only occasionally, usually drawn by a heavy fig crop, and its loud braying and wingbeats are unmistakable.
Habitat: Large fruiting figs
Likely present
Carissa spinarum
A spiny scrambling shrub with sweet-scented white flowers and purple-black fruits that are edible and delicious. A favourite of birds at the forest edge.
Habitat: Forest edge and thicket
Likely present
Herpestes sanguineus
A sleek reddish-brown mongoose with a black tail tip that darts across paths in daylight and climbs well. It hunts lizards, insects and small birds alone.
Habitat: Forest floor, scrub and rocks
Likely present
Stelgidillas gracilirostris
A canopy greenbul with a fine bill and a soft, wistful song. It stays high in the tallest trees, so most records are of birds heard rather than seen.
Habitat: Upper canopy
Likely present
Otolemur garnettii
A cat-sized nocturnal primate with huge eyes and a bushy tail. It leaps between trees after dark, hunting insects and taking fruit and gum, and its loud, wailing calls give bushbabies their name. Torchlight catches its eyes as bright orange points.
Habitat: Canopy and forest edge
Likely present
Junonia terea
A brown pansy with a pale cream band, recorded around the forest for more than a century. It settles on low vegetation at the forest edge with wings spread.
Habitat: Forest edge and scrub
Likely present
Cricetomys ansorgei
A big, gentle nocturnal rodent with a long white-tipped tail and cheek pouches it fills with seeds and fruit to carry back to its burrow. Seen crossing paths at night and sometimes caught by the trail cameras.
Habitat: Burrows among tree roots; forages on the forest floor
Likely present
Dendrohyrax arboreus
A rabbit-sized, thick-furred relative of the elephant that lives in tree hollows and comes out at night to browse leaves. Its screaming, rattling calls after dark are one of the eeriest sounds of Nairobi's forests, and it is far more often heard than seen. Daytime sightings usually catch one sunning at the mouth of its hole.
Habitat: Hollow trunks of large old trees; feeds in the canopy
Likely present
Colius striatus
Scruffy, long-tailed and sociable, mousebirds scramble through bushes like rodents and fly between trees in straggling lines. Groups roost huddled together at night.
Habitat: Scrub, edges and fruiting bushes
Likely present
Ploceus ocularis
A yellow weaver with a thin black eye-stripe and, in the male, a black throat. It forages more like a warbler, probing bark and leaves in pairs, and weaves a long-spouted nest.
Habitat: Forest edge and stream-side trees
Likely present
Gymnosporia heterophylla
A spiny shrub with variable leaves and tiny scented white flowers, part of the thicket that guards the forest edges and shelters small birds.
Habitat: Forest edge and thicket
Likely present
Tricholaema lacrymosa
A small barbet with a black bib, yellow-streaked face and spotted flanks. It sits quietly in the middle of trees and answers others with a hollow, popping call.
Habitat: Forest edge and mixed woodland
Likely present
Neptis saclava
A black-and-white sailer with a gliding, sailing flight, alternating a few flaps with long glides along the forest edge.
Habitat: Forest edge
Likely present
Crithagra striolata
A streaky brown canary with a bold white eyebrow, common along the entrance track and at the campsite, where it feeds on the ground and sings a pleasant warble.
Habitat: Edges, tracks and clearings
Likely present
Lemniscomys striatus
A handsome, day-active mouse striped like a tiny zebra, seen scurrying between grass tussocks along the sunnier tracks. A key prey of the forest's owls, snakes and mongooses.
Habitat: Grassy tracks and clearings
Likely present
Chlorophoneus sulfureopectus
A brilliantly coloured but secretive bushshrike, green above with an orange-yellow breast and yellow forehead. It creeps through tangled canopy and gives a ringing, whistled call.
Habitat: Vine tangles and canopy edges
Likely present
Hipposideros caffer
One of the small insect-eating bats that roost in the Mau Mau cave, hanging in clusters from the ceiling by day and streaming out at dusk to hunt over the forest. Please keep voices low and torches off the roost.
Habitat: The caves by day; hunts over the forest and stream at night
Likely present
Nesotragus moschatus
One of Africa's smallest antelopes, standing barely 35 cm at the shoulder, the suni slips through the undergrowth almost unseen. It leaves neat piles of droppings on regular paths and freezes when disturbed before dashing off with a whistling alarm.
Habitat: Dense undergrowth and thicket
Likely present
Cercopithecus mitis
The monkey of Oloolua. Troops of these grey-and-black, white-throated monkeys move through the canopy above the trail every day, feeding on fruit, leaves and insects and keeping up a running commentary of chirps and booms. The local form is sometimes called Kolb's monkey after its bright white collar.
Habitat: Canopy throughout the forest, especially near the waterfall
Likely present
Turtur tympanistria
A small forest dove with a strikingly white face and underparts in the male. Most often seen as a bird bursting from the path ahead of you, flashing chestnut wings, before it drops back into cover.
Habitat: Forest floor and thick undergrowth
Likely present
Laniarius major
A skulking black-and-white bushshrike, far more often heard than seen. Pairs sing precisely timed duets, one bird answering the other so quickly that it sounds like a single bird.
Habitat: Dense undergrowth and thickets
Likely present
Hemidactylus mabouia
The pale gecko that hunts moths around lights on the trail buildings at night, chirping softly. It is equally at home on tree trunks in the forest.
Habitat: Buildings and tree trunks
Likely present
Cinnyris venustus
The most-recorded bird around the trail. Males are iridescent blue-green with a purple breast band and yellow belly; they defend flowering shrubs vigorously and sing from exposed twigs.
Habitat: Flowering shrubs at edges and clearings
Likely present
Vepris simplicifolia
A glossy-leaved understorey tree in the citrus family whose leaves smell of lemon when crushed. It is the food plant of the forest's swallowtail caterpillars, which is one reason the Apple-green Swallowtail is so common here.
Habitat: Forest understorey
Likely present
Chlorocebus pygerythrus
A grey monkey with a black face, more at home in open woodland and gardens than deep forest. It appears at the forest edges and around the entrance, rarely far inside where Sykes' monkeys hold the canopy.
Habitat: Forest edge, gardens and the entrance area
Likely present
Trioceros hoehnelii
A smaller, rough-skinned chameleon with a raised helmet-like casque and a short single horn on the snout. It favours the forest edge and garden hedges and is often greyish rather than green.
Habitat: Forest edge, hedges and scrub
Likely present
Gyps africanus
Seen soaring high over the forest on its way to and from Nairobi National Park, this is one of the world's most threatened birds. Poisoning across Africa has driven populations down by more than 90 percent in three generations.
Habitat: Overhead only
Likely present
Parus albiventris
A black tit with a clean white belly and white wing bars that hangs acrobatically from twigs in the canopy. Usually found in pairs within mixed bird parties.
Habitat: Canopy and forest edge
Likely present
Dioptrornis fischeri
A plump, slate-grey flycatcher with a white eye-ring that perches upright on exposed branches and drops to the ground for insects. Tame and very common around the campsite and picnic areas.
Habitat: Clearings, edges and the entrance track
Likely present
Lybius leucocephalus
A striking barbet with a pure white head and breast contrasting with a dark back. Groups nest and roost together in holes they excavate in dead branches.
Habitat: Tall trees with dead limbs; edges
Likely present
Pogonocichla stellata
A small, plump robin with a yellow belly, slate hood and a tiny white "star" on the forehead. It flicks its wings and tail as it forages low in the darkest undergrowth.
Habitat: Dense undergrowth beside streams
Likely present
Ichneumia albicauda
A large, shaggy nocturnal mongoose with a conspicuous white tail, usually seen trotting along a track in the headlights or torch beam. It eats insects, rodents and fallen fruit.
Habitat: Forest floor and edges at night
Likely present
Ficus thonningii
A strangler fig that starts life as a seed dropped by a bird in the fork of another tree, sends roots to the ground and slowly encloses its host. Its year-round crops of small figs feed turacos, green pigeons, monkeys and fruit bats, making it the most important food tree in the forest.
Habitat: Throughout the forest, often wrapped around other trees
Likely present
Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata
The African form of the olive, a gnarled evergreen with grey-green leaves and small black fruits loved by pigeons, turacos and monkeys. Old olives mark the driest, rockiest ground in the forest.
Habitat: Rocky slopes and drier forest
Likely present
Phylloscopus trochilus
A small, greenish European warbler that spends the northern winter in Kenya. From October to April it forages quietly in the canopy, sometimes giving a soft descending song before the journey north.
Habitat: Canopy and forest edge
Likely present
Junonia hierta
Bright yellow with black borders and a blue spot on each hindwing, this pansy loves open sunny ground and settles flat on bare earth.
Habitat: Open sunny ground and tracks
Likely present
Junonia elgiva
A dark pansy with a broad yellow band across the wings that basks on sunlit paths and defends its patch against passing butterflies.
Habitat: Sunny paths and clearings
Likely present
Apalis flavida
A slim, active warbler with a yellow breast and grey head that moves through the canopy in pairs, calling constantly. One of the commonest small birds of the forest.
Habitat: Canopy and forest edge
Likely present
Pogoniulus bilineatus
A sparrow-sized barbet whose monotonous "tonk-tonk-tonk" is one of the most constant sounds in the canopy. Seeing the bird, black with white face stripes and a yellow rump, takes patience.
Habitat: Canopy, especially around figs
Likely present
Eurillas latirostris
A drab olive greenbul with a bright yellow "moustache" that is seen far more often than you would expect, because it sings all day: a run of clear, repeated notes from thick cover.
Habitat: Forest undergrowth and mid-storey
Likely present
This database profiles 191 of the species found in Oloolua Forest, one of Nairobi's most important biodiversity refuges. As a 618-hectare indigenous forest reserve in Karen, gazetted in 1932, it serves as a green corridor for birds, primates, and pollinators. Our conservation efforts focus on habitat protection, species monitoring, community engagement, and environmental education.
Learn About Our Conservation Work