We were up bright and early, gathering in the hotel foyer at 6:15am, just as it was getting light. A Tawny Owl had been calling for a while just before we got up.
The air was alive with bird song, mainly Common Bubul but also African Chaffinch, Blackbird, Robin, Blackcap, Serin and Greenfinch. Our walk took us down through some wet pasture and tree lined ditches to the River Ourika, along the way we either saw or heard Cetti's Warbler, Great-spotted Woodpecker (drumming), Levaillant’s Woodpecker (calling from a perch on the trunk of a nearby tree), Hawfinch, several were feeding high up in the canopy. At the river we saw Grey Wagtail, Cattle Egret and heard our first Common Nightingale of the trip.
AFRICAN BLUE TIT
We were up bright and early, gathering in the hotel foyer at 6:15am, just as it was getting light. A Tawny Owl had been calling for a while just before we got up.
The air was alive with bird song, mainly Common Bubul but also African Chaffinch, Blackbird, Robin, Blackcap, Serin and Greenfinch. Our walk took us down through some wet pasture and tree lined ditches to the River Ourika, along the way we saw or heard Cetti’s Warbler, Great-spotted Woodpecker (drumming), Levaillant’s Woodpecker (calling from a perch on the trunk of a nearby tree), Hawfinch, several were feeding high up in the canopy. At the river we saw Grey Wagtail, Cattle Egret and heard our first Common Nightingale of the trip.
HOUSE BUNTING
On the return journey we saw Common Nightingale, Cirl Bunting, Song Thrush and many African Blue Tits. We spent another 30 minutes in the hotel ground and caught up with House Bunting, singing as it perched on the roof of the hotel, also Rock Bunting sitting on a wire, Sardinian Warbler, Common Kestrel and a pair of Little swifts were visiting their nest in the eaves of the hotel.
We were up bright and early, gathering in the hotel foyer at 6:15am, just as it was getting light. A Tawny Owl had been calling for a while just before we got up.
The air was alive with bird song, mainly Common Bubul but also African Chaffinch, Blackbird, Robin, Blackcap, Serin and Greenfinch. Our walk took us down through some wet pasture and tree lined ditches to the River Ourika, along the way we saw or heard Cetti’s Warbler, Great-spotted Woodpecker (drumming), Levaillant’s Woodpecker (calling from a perch on the trunk of a nearby tree), Hawfinch, several were feeding high up in the canopy. At the river we saw Grey Wagtail, Cattle Egret and heard our first Common Nightingale of the trip.
On the return journey we saw Common Nightingale, Cirl Bunting, Song Thrush and many African Blue Tits. We spent another 30 minutes in the hotel ground and caught up with House Bunting, singing as it perched on the roof of the hotel, also Rock Bunting sitting on a wire, Sardinian Warbler, Common Kestrel and a pair of Little swifts were visiting their nest in the eaves of the hotel.
After breakfast we set off for the long journey to Boumalne Dades. We made frequent stops the first of which was just passed the town of Ourika. The road was high above the surrounding farmland and we could the Atlas Mountains peppered in snow behind us. Before too long we had notched our fouth bunting of the day in the shape of a Corn Bunting, this was quickly followed by Thekla Lark, Moroccan Magpie, Barbary Partridge and Sardinian Warbler.
Over the next 50 kilometers we stopped a couple of times to watch specific birds namely: Black-winged Kite, Bonelli’s Eagle (being mobbed by a Long-legged Buzzard),Common Cuckoo and Great Grey Shrike. We drove up through the Tizi-n-Tichka pass where we saw our first Black Wheatear and then down towards Quarzazate stopping for lunch just passed Taddart. During lunch we searched a pine wood for Crossbill but found, instead, a flock of Rock Sparrows, and overhead a flock of some 50+ European bee-eaters flew passed, later we stopped to watch a large flock of both Red-billed and Alpine Chough.
As we reached the drier desert-like terrain we stopped to look for Magreb Wheatear, no lick but we did see Short-toed Larks and a small flock of Trumpeter Finches, we also saw from the bus many White-crowned Wheatears.
During the late afternoon we made two stops near the huge reservoir at Quarzazate, the first produced our first Woodchat Shrike and many Common Chiffchaffs. The second stop was near the shoreline of the reservoir where we saw hundreds of birds. Waders included well over 100 Common Ringed Plover, also a flock of Little Stint, Ruff, Kentish Plover, Green Sandpiper, Eurasian Curlew, Black-winged stilts and Wood Sandpiper. On the water we saw Shoveler, Eurasian Teal, Great-crested Grebe, Little Grebe, 50+ Ruddy Shelduck and there were numerous Grey Herons, Great Cormorants and Little Egrets, a single Marsh Harrier was perched on the muddy bank.
The water level of the reservoir was very low and large areas of wet mud were present, these areas were covered in both Yellow Wagtails and White Wagtails they were joined by several Water Pipits a couple of Tawny Pipits and on the drier areas we found both Northern and Desert Wheatears.
It was now getting dark so we jumped back into the bus to finish the final leg of our journey, the last bird recorded was Black-bellied Sandgrouse, a small group of them was seen in flight from the bus.
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