MOROCCO 2013 - DAY 10 27TH MARCH

DAY 10  -  MARCH 27^TH    -  AGADIR – CAPE RHIR - TAMRI – OUED KSOB – ESSAOUIRA

This was our last full day birding, we needed to see a few more species, especially the Bald Ibis and the Brown-throated Martin. At 6:30am we went down to breakfast and by 7:30am we were packed, loaded onto the bus and on our way through Agadir heading northward to Tamri.

It was dull and misty with patches of light rain, but the mist was slowly lifting as we drove north. At Cape Rhir we stopped to look for Bald Ibis without success but we did walk down to the point and in good light we could see a fair distance off-shore. Before long we had seen many Northern Gannets, the usual gulls and at least five Manx Shearwaters with two of them sitting on the water. Along the beach we could see a Little Egret and not much else as there were many people fishing.

migrating White Storks

At Tamri we visited the large brackish pool which sits just below the town, we spent a a while searching the open water and reed-beds but found very little:  Moroccan Wagtail, Little Egret, Little-ringed Plover, Moroccan Cormorant, Grey Heron and a large roost of gulls which included many Audouin’s Gulls. Before we went for a walk about 40 Bald Ibis were seen flying over a distant hill and to our delight the birds drifted towards us and after circling for a while they eventually dropped down onto the beach not too far from where we were standing, we had excellent views of them with a back drop of rolling surf. During a short walk around the lagoon we found Sardinian Warblers, Zitting Cisticola and we heard a Reed Warbler but generally it was very quiet.

record shot of BALD IBIS on the beach at Tamri

We continued our journey northward after stopping to buy picnic supplies (for the last time) and just south of Essaouira we turned off the main road to pay a visit to Oued Ksob.  Despite huge development in the area, including a new bridge, there were lots of birds to see. The shrubby tobacco plants found on the shingle banks of the river held  Serins, Greenfinches, Linnets, Goldfinches, African Chaffinches and many Blackcaps.

Curlew Sandpiper just beginning to show summer plumage

We began our walk about 2km upriver from a bridge which spans the main road. Down on the shingle by the river we had a terrific couple of hours watching many species coming to drink and bathe, the number of Blackcaps was impressive, many other species joined them at the water’s edge, at any one time you could see: Greenfinch, Blackcap, Goldfinch, African Chaffinch, Linnet, Chiffchaff, Song Thrush, Blackbird and Laughing Doves. 

Spotless Starling just about to take a bath

Our target species the Brown-throated Martin turned up in small numbers throughout our stay, there was probably a dozen birds in all, we could see their nest holes in the sandy bank and several of them flew very close to us, the group were underwhelmed, I think, by this plain looking bird. A group of Little Egrets sat in the water near a large flock of Yellow-legged Gulls and it was there that we found several waders. We enjoyed good views of Common and Green Sandpiper, Greenshank, Curlew Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plovers. Other sightings included: Common Moorhen, Spotless Starling, Subalpine Warbler, Common Bubul, Great Tit and a couple of Common Kestrels.

final group shot - it was getting a little chilly on the beach by now

We had about an hour left before the sun went down so we walked down river from the new bridge to the shore where a huge roost of Gulls could be seen. We never added any new gulls to our list and we didn’t see a single Tern, but it was a lovely evening and despite a chilly wind we enjoyed our last moments looking across the beach to the town of Essaouira. In all in all it was a superb day-out, we recorded a few new species and finished with a tour list of 189 species, a very record and testament to the efforts of all the group.

A view across to Essaouira from the beach at Qued Ksob