We were down for breakfast at 6am and out in the car park at 6:45. It was quite light by then and we had a clear sky with fading stars, there was a chilly wind with a temperature of only 5C, it felt like 2C! You must remember that we are still at over 300 metres altitude.
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| out of the bus on the Tagdilt track |
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| our hotel on the edge of the stoney plains at Boumalne Dades |
We walked to a small area where rubbish had been tipped for the last few years and had a great time watching many birds. Trumpeter Finches numbered in the 20's and Short-toed Larks were seen in small flocks of 10-20 birds. We also listed Desert Wheatears, Desert Lark, Temminck's Horned Lark, Red-rumped Wheatears, Thekla Lark, two Eurasian Hoopoes and a small flock of Cream-coloured Coursers, what a great start to the day.
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| Trumpeter Finch |
We jumped onto the bus and drove a short way to the Tagdilt track about 1\2 mile away. Tagdilt is 'LARK'S VILLE' they were everywhere and several species were listed. As well as those mentioned above we found Skylark, Crested Lark and two rather special ones. After walking for quite away into this huge area of litter strewn rubbish we found our most wanted the Thick-billed Lark, three of them flew a distance away and gibe us the run-around for a while bit we all had superb views in the end. We also found a single Lesser Short-toed Lark and several more Wheatears.
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| Red-rumped Wheatear |
We moved further along the track towards Tagdilt where we got off the bus to walk again. Over the next hour we found a few new echoes and lots more others seen earlier. We added our ninth lark of the day when we found a Hoopoe Lark, we also found Subalpine Warbler, Willow Warbler, Great Grey Shrike (elegans) we then found a great species for Morocco in the shape of an Isabelline Wheatears, what a superb find.
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| its unbelievable that you cam find such great birds in a rubbish tip Here we have Thick-billed Lark and Temminck's Horned Lark |
As we moved to the next place we saw a flurry of raptor passage, we counted 18 Black Kites, 4 Short-toed Eagles, 3 Marsh Harriers and a couple of Lesser Kestrel were seen out on plains. Our last stop before lunch was at a small oasis where a small holding had a few fields of crops and a little orchard. We only added Meadow Pipit and our fourth Eurasian Hoopoe of the day but there were a few Subalpine Warblers and a Common Redstart there too.
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| a male Thick-billed Lark |
We bought lunch in Boumalne Dade and drove up the gorge to each at a picnic site near the very strange rock formation locally known as "Monkey Fingers". From there we drove right up through the gorge and over the top where we searched for our last two species of the day. First we found air of Bonelli's Eagles and then after some chasing we found a beautiful male Tristram's Warbler, fantastic and a great bird to finish the day off with.
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| Tristan's Warbler - taken by Terje Kolaas today |
After a nice hot shower we ambled down to the restaurant for a lovely dinner and a glass of wine (or beer).
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