- a trip organised by Bird ID based in Norway, to test your ID skills go to : www.birdid.no
This was our last day of the tour and it was as good as the first! The weather was superb, clear sky with all day sunshine and fantastic light.
Before we set off we logged Pallid Swift from the hotel car park, our first swifts of the tour. We then drove due south for about 60km, within the bus there was a buzz of excitement as we headed southward from Agadir to Souss Massa, this famous national park promises so much!
There were several species still to find and one of them was Little Swift, after about 30 minutes a shout went up from the bus "Little Swift", we all piled out of the bus and watched about 14 of these small swifts drifting above us.
The approach road into the Souss Massa National park is usually very good for birding, today was no exception, we found a Barbary Falcon on a pylon and it allowed very close approach for the photographers.
We disembarked from the bus on the track which overlooks the river and surrounding countryside, from our high vantage point we found a number of good species within the first half an hour. The first was a small flock of Spanish Sparrows which posed perfectly for the cameras then we found a couple of Plain Martins feeding over the river. Next came a Purple Heron, again, it was seen as it flew over the river.
ONE OF OUR FIRST SIGHTINGS AT SOUSS MASSA - SPANISH SPARROWThe next bird raised a great deal of excitement and appreciation, it was a Black-crowned Tchagra, a bird most wanted by the group. It performed really well and gave exceptional views, at the same time a couple of the group were tracking down a pipit in the next field, it turned out to be a Tree Pipit, a really unusual sighting for Febraury in Morocco!
THE BLACK CROWNED TCHAGRA ALLOWED US TO GET VERY CLOSEWe contiued the walk along the main track towards the river mouth, where we added Laughing Dove, Moussier's Redstart, Spectacled Warbler, Sradinian Warbler, Little Owl, Glossy Ibis, Mediteranean Gull and three more Tchagras to our our daily tally.
By the time we reached the beach it had got very warm, so after a short sea-watch, which produced Northern Gannet, Sandwich Tern, Balearic Shearwater, Arctic Skua and Audouin's Gull, we retired to one of the beach hotels for lunch.
After lunch we spent an hour or so to the south of the village of Massa where we searched the farmland for Moustached Warbler. The warbler failed to show but we did see: Common Snipe, Little Ringed Plover, Great Spotted Cuckoo, a flock of some 10 Water Pipits and many other species. We also, found an active nesting site of the Plain Martin.
The final part of the afternoon was spent back in Agadir at the Oued Sous. We noted most of the birds from yesterday, it was terrific in the afternoon light and the bird life was prolific. In superb weather conditions the sun went down and we logged our final new bird sighting of the tour, a Hen Harrier. A couple of Red-necked Nightjars sang to us as we left the reserve.
ONE OF THE 4 SPOONBILLS SEEN AT THE 'POOLS' AT OUED SOUSSOur final bird call at dinner reported a trip total of 166 species, it was a grand total indeed for Morocco in February and it would have been even better if we had been lucky with a few birds not found in the desert region!
Everyone said they had enjoyed the trip and were pleased with the results. This was the first ever field trip of www.birdid.no and in my opinion, it was a great success.
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