- this 10 day tour was organised by 'Bird ID' based in Norway, to test your ID skills go to :
www.birdid.no
This was a long day of travelling, but despite being in the bus for several hours we still managed to see a remarkable 81 species!
We took an early breakfast and departed from the hotel at 8am, it was dull and overcast but it brightened up later. After an hour on the road we stopped to look for Thekla Larks by the roadside, before long we found several, also Moussier’s Redstart, Corn Bunting, Blue Rock Thrush and many African Chaffinches.
A bird ID picture - what is it.
Next we stopped to admire a Great Grey Shrike before stopping to look at the rubbish dump at Ait Ourir. What a sight, 11 birders looking over the wall at rubbish, the Moroccans think we are mad!! However the dump proved very productive for us, there were many White Storks and Cattle Egrets but we also found: Little Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Grey heron and lots of White Wagtail together with several Yellow Wagtails. A small flock of Spotless Starlings held one Common Starling.
Our lunch stop was at the other side of the Tiz-N-Tichka Pass where a small pine forest delivered Common Crossbill, Firecrest, the very bright Moroccan Greenfinch subspecies and Coal Tit. We sat on the terrace of a restaurant in warm sunshine whilst we watched many Black Wheatears, House Buntings, a fly by Black Kite and a very distant falcon species.
A female Crossbill
As we approached Quarzazate, leaving the mountains behind us, we noticed the Black Wheatear was being replaced by the White Crowned Wheatear as the habitat changed. Then we found a great bird in the shape of Magreb Wheatear (formerly Mourning). What a superb little bird and a great find, a couple of Trumpeter Finches were also seen at the same place.
THE MAGREB WHEATEAR
Our last stop was the huge reservoir just east of Quarzazate, we made two stops and drove as near to the waters edge as possible. Over the next 2 hours we amassed a creditable list of species the most notable of which were: Desert lark, Common Quail, Osprey, Western Marsh Harrier, Marbled Duck, Ruddy Shelduck, a Black Stork (a very good find), and good numbers of Shoveler.
A few Wigeon, a single Gadwall and lots of Little & Great Crested Grebes joined hundreds of Common Coot on the water. The water level was very low, a reflection of the low rainfall in Morocco over the last winter and because of this vast areas of dead and dying weeds covered the banks. These areas were, in turn covered in Wagtails, there must have 3-4 hundred, we did find one Moroccan Wagtail and many Yellow Wagtail with the ubiquitous White Wagtail.
THE GROUP AT THE QUARZAZATE RESERVOIR
We left the reservoir as the light faded and made the leg of the journey in the twilight hours, one Little Owl finished our bird count for the day.
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