MOROCCO 2013 - DAY 3 - 20TH MARCH

BOUMALNE DADES - TAGDILT TRACK - DADES GORGE

An early breakfast-call found us in the dining room at 6:30am and after consuming a lovely breakfast we set off on foot towards the Tagdilt Track. Our first bird of the day was a House Bunting which was on the roof of the hotel this was quickly followed by  a Thekla Lark, Collared Dove and a White-crowned Wheatear, all were seen from the small compound at the front of the hotel.

wrapped for a trip to the arctic - early morning on the Tagdilt Track

We walked out to the mini-dump a few hundred meters from the hotel entrance, we had a clear blue sky but it was very windy which made it feel quite cold.  As  we approached the dump a single Stone Curlew flew up from a gully and landed not too far away and a pair of Temminck’s Horned larks showed very well. Next a Trumpeter Finch was found in another gully with several Thekla Larks and a Northern Wheatear. A single Alpine Swift flew over as we were watching a Red-rumped Wheatear and then a small flock of Short-toed Larks landed close by.

Strange rock formation in the Dades Gorge

We then jumped onto the bus and set off for the ‘new’ Tagdilt track, which is, in fact a tarmac road, we stopped a couple of clicks along this road to view a series of seasonal pools near the roadside. Our first Desert Wheatear of the day was found and another couple of Red-rumped Wheatears. At the pools we found two Little Ringed Plovers and a single Ringed Plover but it was just passed the pools that the star bird appeared. We located a couple of Crowned Sandgrouse that had just dropped in, they were joined by six more, all giving excellent views.

 A visit to a mini oasis a little further along the ‘track; provided more sightings with a good selection of migrants on show; Tawny Pipit, Common Redstart, Whinchat,  Tree Pipit, Woodchat Shrike, Crested Lark, Thekla Lark, a couple of Short-toed Larks, Northern Wheatear, Trumpeter finch and a superb male Sebohm’s Wheatear.

view from the head of the gorge looking back towards Boumalne

Back on the Tagdilt Track we turned west and headed out onto the ‘hammada’, this stony desert habitat is home to several sought after species. Cream-coloured Coursers were the first to show, four we seen at first and several more followed. 

It was now getting quite hot but we persevered and took a walk in search of other larks. The Hoopoe Lark took some finding, but what a great find and such a crowd pleaser. After returning to the bus we headed off towards to Boumalne Dades which we could see in the distance, along the way a couple more Hoopoe Larks were seen along with a single White Wagtail, Common Kestrel, Booted Eagle and our last new bird of the morning, a Desert Lark.

 In Boumalne Dades we picked up picnic supplies before driving up through the Dades Gorge. Along the way to the head of the gorge we stopped to watch Crag Martin, Blue Rock Thrush and a perched Long-legged buzzard. Near the top of the gorge we walked along the road whilst searching the mountain scrub for warblers. The Tristram’s Warbler was our main target and after a short while we found one, but the wind had picked up again which hampered our search, we also found a single Rock Bunting.

Desert Wheatear (male)

For the last couple of hours of the afternoon we re-visited the Tagdilt track still searching for the Thick-billed Lark, again without success. But we found many of the species seen earlier and one nice find was a single Lesser Short-toed Lark.

Desert Wheatear (female)

back end of a Temminck's Horned Lark you can see the 'horns'

The weather had been terrific today with bouts of windy conditions but overall a lovely day, as the sun dropped behind the snow-capped peaks we looked eastward and wondered what was install for us tomorrow as we headed out towards the desert region.

MOROCCO 2013 - DAY 2 - 19TH MARCH

Day 2  - March 19^th  -  Ourika valley  to Boumalne Dades via the Tizi-n-Tichka Pass and Quarzazate Reservoir.

We were up bright and early, meeting in the hotel car park at 6am,  it was dark, misty with light drizzle and bouts of rain. Not good!

We drove a short distance to an area of open farmland, orchards and crops fields with tracks leading down to the river Ourika. We took one of the tracks just as it was getting light, we could hear many birds but at first we didn’t see any. Finally they started to show with views of Common Bubul, Wren, Robin, Greenfinch and African Chaffinch getting us off the mark. Our first African Blue soon followed and by this time we had heard our target species several times, the levaillant’s Woodpecker was calling constantly, in fact we could hear three or four of them. By the time we reached the river we had seen Blackcap, Nightingale and heard several Cetti’s Warblers. At the river we finally got to see two Levaillant’s Woodpeckers in flight, lots of Cattle Egrets and a couple of Grey Wagtails.

As the light improved so did the birding and it stopped raining but remained dull and overcast. A small flock of Hawfinches was nice, a Great-spotted Woodpecker drummed in the distance and another Nightingale showed very well, a couple more burst into song. 

We walked back to the main road as the cloud lifted and the sky brightened it was then that many birds began to appear. A flock of Red-rumped Swallows were joined by up to eight Little Swifts, a couple of Barn Swallows and a few House Martins.  We also added Serin, Goldfinch, Cirl Bunting and Common Cuckoo to our list. We returned to the hotel for a most welcomed breakfast.

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 see the Atlas Mountains shrouded in cloud behind us. Before too long we had notched up several new birds for the trip, the best of which was a flock of eight Moroccan Magpies with their blue face-patches and three Great-spotted Cuckoos, we had close views of one of these superb birds. We also got great views of Thekla lark, Sardinian Warbler and distant views of Corn Bunting.

One of the 3 G S Cuckoos seen today - this one came very close

Over the next 50 kilometers we stopped a couple of times to watch specific birds namely: Great Grey Shrike and Booted Eagle. 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. Just before we stopped  a very large raptor was seen drifting down the valley, it had a white tail with a terminal black band and could have only been a Golden Eagle, alas only one person saw it.

During lunch we searched a pine wood for Crossbill but found, instead, a flock of Rock Sparrows, a Bonelli’s Warbler and we got good close views of the Moroccan sub-species of Coal Tit.

We took lunch sitting out in the warm sunshine on a terrace that had terrific views of the surrounding countryside. During lunch a small flock of  European bee-eaters flew passed and in the valley below we watched a Black Wheatear and saw a Barbary Partridge in flight. A couple of Common Ravens were seen mobbing a Booted Eagle just before a Black kite flew down the valley.

View from the terrace during lunch time

During the late afternoon we made two stops near the huge reservoir at Quarzazate, the first, at a small stream produced Green Sandpiper, Hoopoe (2), White-crowned Wheatear (2), Common Redstart, European Bee-eater (6) and lots of Common Bubul.  The second stop was near the shoreline of the Quarzazate reservoir which was a bit of a disappointment for me. In the past this venue has produced hundreds of birds of many species but this year the water level was so low that not many birds were seen at all and it was very windy which is NOT conducive to good birding.

A pair of Desert Wheatears flitted along the track as we approached and a after a few minutes we logged: Grey Heron (15), Ruddy Shelduck (12), Mallard (5), Gadwall (1), White Stork (1), Common Coot (1), Marsh Harrier (1),  Black Kite (1), Yellow Wagtail (2), White Wagtail (5), Water Pipit (1), Meadow Pipit (3), Greater Short-toed Lark (1), Little Ringed Plover (3), Common Redshank (1), Northern Wheatear (1) and not much else. 

The light began to fade so we jumped back onto the bus for the last leg of the journey to Boumalne Dades which took another 90 minutes, we arrived at 7:30pm and went straight down for dinner.

MOROCCO 2013 - DAY 1 - MARCH 18TH

LONDON TO MARRAKECH  - TRANSFER TO HOTEL AMNOURGOUR (OURIKA VALLEY) – AFTERNOON VISIT TO OUKAIMEDAN (TOUBKAL NATIONAL PARK – ATLAS MOUNTAINS)

day 1  of a 10 –day tour of central Morocco.

 Participants:  Peter & Sue Morrison, Chris & Peter Hopkins, Ted Lyons, Paul Edlin

We arrived at Marrakech at 11:15am in a blaze of sunshine with fluffy white clouds passing overhead. Our first sighting was a House Sparrow and then a House Bunting both were on the roof of the terminal building, As we loaded up into the bus we made a quick scan and found Sparrowhawk, Pallid Swift and a couple of Barn Swallows.

During our drive to the hotel we saw several White Storks, a couple on the nest,  we also saw Collared Dove, Barn Swallow, Common Bubul and a few Little Swifts. At the hotel we spent a little time unpacking our optics and we met up again in the hotel car park some 30 minutes later. For the remainder of the day we drove the 30km up to Oukaimedan and the Toubkal Nature reserve, the road winds its’ way up through some fantastic scenery with the snow covered peaks in the background. Stopping along the way we watched several new species, our first stop produced Black Redstart, Moussier’s Redstart (a few of us saw it), Long-legged Buzzard, House  Bunting and lots of  African Chaffinches. 

A break in clouds gave us views of the stunning scenery

As we drove higher we soon realised that the cloud base was very low and soon we were driving through the cloud. Our next stop was in a small pine copse, the visibility was very poor there and we only managed to find Coal Tit and more Chaffinches, The next stop was to survey a babbling brook, we were now above the snow-line and the temperature had dropped somewhat, our target bird, the Dipper, could not be found but we did see Black Wheatear, Black Redstart and a Water Pipit.

At Oukaimedan the thick cloud began to clear and we could see the full extent of this beautiful place. We drove straight round to the top car park and the regular spot for the Crimson Winged Finch. Sure enough we found a dozen or so of these special birds they were feeding in a mixed flock with Rock Sparrows. We then spent a while searching the slopes for an Atlas Horned Lark, when we eventually found one it was practically walking around our feet giving excellent views. One really good find was a male Brambling in full summer plumage, what a bird and an extraordinary find,  high up in the mountains.

 

Lastly we drove up to the TV mast above the village of Oukaimedan, we only found a couple of Black Redstarts so we drove down stopping once to watch a small flock of Greater Short-toed Larks, what an amazing find, you wouldn’t expect to see this species at 8,000ft. On the way back down the mountains we pulled over to view the stream and quickly found a Green Sandpiper  this was shortly followed by a sighting of a Dipper.

 We arrived back at the hotel at 6pm, a little disappointed with the cloudy weather Let’s hope it is better tomorrow.

DAYTOUR - MARCH 13TH 2013

TARIFA   -  LA JANDA -  VEJER  -  BARBATE  - BOLONIA

At last, a day without rain and lots of sunshine! It was a bit windy down at the coast but it remained dry all day.

I took Tom and Stephanie out for the day, they were eager to see some birds as they had endured several days of rain during their stay at our home in Gaucin.

White Stork

We arrived at Los Lances Beach at 9am and quickly listed some good species. Four Little Ringed Plovers were sitting next to a puddle in a meadow next to the track and several Chiffchaff sp, were flitting in the hedgerow. Then we found a beautiful male Subalpine Warbler feeding in the scrub, a lovely find. We added Corn Bunting, Stonechat, Linnet and Goldfinch as we walked to the beach hide. The beach wasn't too busy but a large flock of Sanderling were joined by a few Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover and a single Avocet. After a short walk we found a nice group of Audouin's Gulls and several Crested larks on the grass meadows.

Sardinian Warbler

La Janda was quite flooded and as a consequence many species were absent. Large numbers of White Storks fed in the fields and a single Black Stork  flew over. many Cattle and Little Egrets were dotted over the rice fields and in the ditches we found two groups of Eurasian Spoonbills. In the main canal we saw 8 Purple Swamphens and a couple of Moorhens. Several Common Kestrels, Common Buzzards, Griffon Vultures and a Marsh Harrier was the sum total of our raptor sightings. Waders were few and far between, a couple of Green Sandpipers and a bunch of Common Snipe were all we saw. many Meadow Pipits and White Wagtails fed in the flooded fields and we also found two Yellow Wagtails.

Little Ringed Plover

We left La Janda and spent a little time at Vejer where we stopped for tapas lunch, as we went back to the car a single Bald Ibis flew over us, this was one of the re-introduced birds that are now breeding at Vejer.

Corn Bunting

Barbate marshes were also flooded, but we spent some time at the sewage works where we found a good number of Blackcaps in the hedgerow, at least 30 birds were present. The marshes held very little but we did see a Swallowtail butterfly and a Red Admiral.

At the mouth of the river barbate we stopped to scan the marshes and found both Redshank and Greenshank, Mediterranean Gull, SandwichTerns and a couple of Caspian Terns. Along the coast road to Zahara we stopped to watch 22 Bald Ibis feeding in a small paddock.

Caspian Terns

Before we set off for home we made a visit to Bolonia where walked amongst the Roman Ruins at Baelo Claudia, the ruins were covered with Black Redstarts and a single Short-toed Eagle flew over.

Finally we stopped at the Mirador de Estrecho, the view across to Africa was stunning, the light was superb. We then found our last new bird of the visit, an Egyptian Vulture, this migrant was an early bird indeed, they usually come over during April.

The very last bird of the day was a Common Raven which flew by as we drove up the mountainside back to Gaucin.

ALL PICTURES TAKEN BY TOM GREEN

BIRD SEEN:

1. Blackbird
2. Sardinian Warbler
3. Eurasian chiffchaff
4. Blackcap
5. Common Kestrel
6. Cattle Egret
7. Little Egret
8. Grey Heron
9. Eurasian Spoonbill
10. White Stork
11. Black Stork
12. Great Cormorant
13. Common Buzzard
14. Marsh Harrier
15. Stonechat
16. Meadow Pipit
17. White Wagtail
18. Yellow Wagtail
19. Greenfinch
20. Chaffinch
21. Goldfinch
22. Serin
23. Reed Bunting
24. Corn Bunting
25. Jackdaw
26. Raven
27. Black-winged Stilt
28. Sanderling
29. Dunlin
30. Kentish Plover
31. Little Ringed Plover
32. Ringed Plover
33. Avocet
34. Black-headed Gull
35. Yellow-legged Gull
36. Lesser-blk backed Gull
37. Audouin's Gull
38. Mediterranean Gull
39. Sandwich tern
40. Caspian Tern
41. Moorhen
42. Purple Swamphen
43. Zitting Cisticola

44.Griffon Vulture
45. Black Kite
46. Egyptian Vulture
47. Short-toed Eagle
48. Spotless Starling
49. Crested Lark
50. Skylark
51. House Martin
52. Barn Swallow
53. Red-rumped Swallow
54. Common Swift
55. Pallid Swift
56. Wood Pigeon
57. Feral Pigeon
58. Red-legged Partridge
59. Hoopoe
60. Black Redstart
61. House Sparrow
62. Subalpine Warbler
63. Mallard
64. Shoveler
65. Collared Dove
66. European Robin
67. Eurasian Linnet
68. Cetti's Warbler

ADDITIONS TO MY YEAR LIST

512.  Zitting Cisticola

513. Red-rumped Swallow

514. Bald Ibis

515. Pallid Swift

516. Common Swift

517. Yellow Wagtail

518. Caspian Tern

519. Sandwich Tern

520. Audouin's  Gull

521. Egyptian Vulture

522. Purple Swamphen

523. Black Stork

524. Green Sandpiper

525. Kentish Plover

526. Little Ringed Plover

527. Subalpine Warbler

528. Eurasian Hoopoe
529. Sardinian Warbler

SUNDAY 10TH MARCH 2013 - LOCAL BIRDING

GENAL VALLEY NEAR CASARES

heavy rain and hail showers with some sunny breaks.

About 11am the rain stopped for a while and I took Tom & Stephanie out for a couple of hours birding during the dry spell.

We drove down to the Genal River and up to Sierra Crestellina where we stopped to look at the Bonelli's Eagle nest site. The nest was in good shape but no birds were in attendance. We did see many Black Redstarts, Stonechats, Crested Larks and Griffon Vultures. We also saw one or two Booted Eagles and a single Short-toed Eagle.

record shot of my first Woodchat shrike of the year

record shot of the Bonelli's Eagle

Black-winged Stilts in the river genal

A few kilometers further along the road to the coast we turned off on the single track road towards Secadura. It was along here that we saw the true numbers of migrating raptors that we'd expected during a dry sunny spell. Soon the sky was full of birds, over 100 Black kites were joined by 10's of Short-toed Eagles, Booted Eagles, Common Buzzards and one or two Marsh Harriers. On lower levels we found two WOODCHAT SHRIKES, Cirl Buntings, Serins, White Wagtails, Corn Buntings and a nice flock of 7 Lesser Kestrels were feeding over the hillside.

Black Kites

A single raptor caught our eye, at first it looked like Long-legged Buzzard but as it got closer to Common Buzzards the size difference was obvious, we had found a first winter Bonelli's Eagle, a nice find.

Short-toed Eagle

Lesser kestrel

We made it down to the river which was in flood and all we saw there was a flock of 17 Black-winged Stilts. It began to rain again, the fun was over, thick cloud came in so we retreated back to the house for shelter. A short but sweet birding excursion.

ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY  TOM GREEN

ADDITIONS TO MY YEARLIST

 

510. Short-toed Eagle

511. Woodchat Shrike