MOROCCO - FEB 11TH DAY 5 OF 10

BOUMALNE DADES – MERZOUGA WITH STOPS AT TAGDILT, GOULMIMA & RISSANI

- this 10 day tour was organised by Bird ID based in Norway, to test your ID skills go to :

www.birdid.no

Today was transfer day, we moved from Boumalne Dades to Merzouga, there was plenty of birding along the way in perfect weather. The temperature rose into the mid 20’s for the first time and we began to shed layers of clothing.

In the hotel grounds we found Blue Rock Thrush, Black Redstart, House Bunting and even a Desert Lark which flew onto the garden wall. We set off at 8 am and drove straight to the small pools and the river that we found yesterday along the ‘new road’ to Tagdilt. Hoping for sandgrouse but not finding any, but there were plenty of other birds to watch. Several flocks of Trumpeter Finch were joined by Lesser Short-toed Larks coming down to drink and it was one of the unfortunate finches that was grabbed by a hungry Sparrowhawk as dashed in for breakfast, the poor little lark lost its footing on the ice as the hawk approached. It was a great show for us and was caught on camera by one or two of the group. Other birds seen were: Thekla Lark, Corn Bunting, Long-legged Buzzard, White Wagtail, Moussier’s Redstart, Black Redstart & Desert Lark.

Typical stone-desert plain near Goulmima

We stopped to buy lunch in Goulmima before stopping off just passed the town at a wadi (dry river bed). We hoped to see Fulvous Babbler but had to settle for a more exciting find, Scrub Warbler. We found three of these little gems with their comical feeding method. They literally hop on the sand from bush to bush and then from underneath the bush they jump up to grab food from the lower twigs.

Thekla Lark

A second stop produced another four Scrub Warblers but no Babblers, other birds found were Trumpeter Finch, Crested Lark, Thekla Lark, Great Grey Shrike, Greenfinch and Black Redstart.

Other stops throughout the day produced: Lanner Falcon, a surprising Dartford Warbler, Tristram’s Warbler, Moussier’s Redstart, Stonechat, Chiffchaff and finally a group of 12 Fulvous Babblers.

As we approached Rissani we made a detour to act upon some recent information regarding a location for a roosting Pharoah Eagle Owl. The information proved to be correct and the owl was seen, beautifully, by all of the group. We also added Brown Necked Raven to our list at the same site.

We arrived at our Auberge at 7pm in the dark and our last bird of the day was, of course, a Little Owl seen sitting on a pole along the road.