Small bird, big surprise: a 140-km range extension of the River Prinia Prinia fluviatilis in northwestern Kenya, with the first record from the Elemi Triangle
Thomas M. Butynski and Yvonne A. de Jong
Eastern Africa Primate Diversity and Conservation Program, Nanyuki, Kenya
The River Prinia Prinia fluviatilis Chappuis, 1974, is a small passerine of the family Cisticolidae, restricted to waterside and water-logged, sometimes seasonally dry, vegetation in otherwise arid landscapes. Its distribution consists of a series of isolated wetland “islands” along the Sahelian belt, from northern Senegal in the west to northwestern Kenya (Urban et al. 1997; BirdLife International 2018; eBird 2026). The eastern-most record was obtained by Finch (2005) in 2001 near Nanam (520 m asl), 20 km southeast of Lokichokio, Turkana County, extreme northwestern Kenya. This was an eastward range extension of about 2,500 km from southwestern Chad, and the first record for Kenya and East Africa.
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