Souss Massa National Park
This was our best birding day so far, the weather was gorgeous, the birds superb and the group saw several new birds, the total for the day was 86 species. We ate breakfast at 6:30am and set off for the hour-long journey southward to Souss Massa. Common Bubuls were calling loudly in the hotel grounds as we left and along the way we noted Great Grey Shrike, Spotless Starling, Moroccan Magpie, Little Swift, Laughing Dove and Crested Lark.
We stopped just before the entrance to the national park to scan the heathland and found Moussier’s Redstart, European Bee-eater, Little Owl, House Bunting, Sardinian Warbler and Common Kestrel. Our first walk began just inside the reserve perimeter, we were situated on a track high above the river and we could see for miles across fields and farmland. The birding was so good that it took us 1 ½ hours to walk a few hundred meters. We added several new species to our trip list: Marbled Duck (a flock of about 20 birds), Purple Heron, Common Coot and Glossy Ibis were amongst the first.
BLACK-CROWNED TCHAGRA - ONE OF FIVE SEEN THIS MORNING
After about 100 meters we heard our first Black-crowned Tchagra, it moved very close to us and we all had superb views of this must-see species. Other birds entertaining us were House Bunting, Black-eared Wheatear, Cetti’s Warbler, our first Garden Warbler, Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers, Blackcaps, Sardinian Warblers, Subalpine Warblers and a very showy Common Nightingale which was perched on the ground out in the open. Further along the track we could see the mouth of the river and the sand bar across it. On and near the sandbar we could see, Eurasian Spoonbills, Glossy Ibis, Greater Flamingos, a huge flock of (150+) Sandwich Terns, Caspian Tern (5), Audouin’s Gull (35), Yellow-legged, Lesser Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls. In the water we found Little Grebe, Little Egret, Moroccan Cormorant and along the shore we saw Oystercatcher, Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Sanderling, Ringed Plover and Kentish Plover. The sea was very misty so we couldn’t see off shore but the track itself was superb for flowers butterflies and birds. There were Linnets, many in bright red summer plumage, Stonechats, Moussier’s Redstarts, Goldfinches and sylvia warblers mainly Sardinian and Subalpine.
BLACK-EARED WHEATEAR
At lunchtime we walked north along the coast and met Ahmed with the minibus who then drove us back into Massa to buy lunch. We ate our picnic by the side of the river where we found our first Plain Martin which was feeding over the water with many Red-rumped Swallows, Barn Swallows, House and Sand Martins. For the next 2 hours we walked along a track that ran parallel to the river and passed through many fields where Lucerne was being harvested. These fields held many species too, we found Meadow Pipit, Water Pipit, Tawny Pipit, Green Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Spotless Staring, lots of Zitting Cisticolas, a Western Olivaceous Warbler was a nice find as was two Great Spotted Cuckoos, bird of the day for many of the group. Above us we watched a Black Kite which was being attacked by a Black-winged Kite and several parties of Glossy Ibis flew over. Most of the fields held good numbers of Yellow Wagtails the majority of which were the subspecies, Iberiae, or Blue-headed Wagtail.
Tiredness eventually caught up with us so we walked back to the bus, but before we set off back to Agadir and the hotel, we spent 30 minutes looking over the river trying to get a better sighting of ther Plain Martin but all we got was another brief glimpse.
DAVE WITH A CHAMELEON THAT HE FOUND - BIGGEST ONE I HAVE EVER SEEN!
We ended the day early as pulled into the hotel car park at 5pm. We ate a peppered steak at 7:30pm before retiring at 10pm for a well earned rest.
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