MOROCCO
09-24/04/2011
Hans Matheve, Jasmin Lauwaert, Noah Janssen, Iris Lauwaert, David Billy Herman & Marieke Desender
Picture by David Billy Herman ©
INTRODUCTION
This was not a full-time birding trip as we were accompanied by our non birding partners. Being world listers rather than WP listers we (HM & DH) focussed on somewhat different species as other groups, like restricted range species and subspecies which might be split in the future.
Many thanks to Pieter Vantieghem and Kevin Lambeets for pre trip information, and to Peter Adriaens for some complementary bird sounds.
ITINERARY
9 apr | Departure from Belgium. Night somewhere in Spain. |
10 apr | Travel + ferry to Morocco. Night in Tanger. |
11 apr | Birding Merja Zerga + travel. Evening and night in Marrakech. |
12 apr | Birding Oukaimeden (parallel: visit Marrakech city). Evening and night in Marrakech. |
13 apr | Travel + birding Tamri (parallel: beach) + Oued Souss. Night in Oued Massa. |
14 apr | Birding Oued Massa + travel + birding Lake Mansour + travel. Night in Boumalne. |
15 apr | Birding Tagdilt Track + travel + birding Rissani area. Night in Hotel Yasmina, Merzouga. |
16 apr | Birding Merzouga area. Night in Hotel Yasmina, Merzouga. |
17 apr | Birding Rissani area + travel + birding km43 Goulmima - Ar-Rachidia road + travel + birding Tizi Pass + travel + birding Zeida Plains + travel. Night in Azrou. |
18 apr | Birding Ifrane area + travel. Night in Fes. |
19 apr | Visit Fes City. Night in Fes. |
20 apr | Travel + visit Volubilis + travel. Night in Rabat. |
21 apr | Birding Sidi Yahya (parallel: Visit Rabat city) + travel. Evening and night in Tanger. |
22 apr | Ferry to Spain + continuous travel. |
23 apr | Arrival in Belgium. |
PRACTICALITIES
Transport
We drove our rental van from Belgium to Morocco and back and made a little stop-over in Spain (going) and France (coming back). We had no serious problems, only 1 flat tire and a dirt infested air filter when driving on the Merzouga dirt roads...
Accommodation
Where possible we camped in our tents as there are several great camp sites. When visiting cities we opted to stay in one of the numerous and rather cheap hotels in the city centre.
Money
ATM's were easy to find throughout the country. We did not exchange with other currencies.
Weather
We had dry and warm weather throughout the trip, even in the Atlas.
Health and safety
We encountered no problems. Travelling independently caused no safety problems at all. We never experienced any kind of hassle. Even the pushy hawkers were not too bad to cope with.
VISITED SITES
Below is a list of the sites we birded. Often it is very straightforward to find the birding spot and where to bird. Gosney's birding site guides were of great use as well as several recent bird trip reports on the internet.
Ferry Algeciras - Tanger
On our way to Morocco we had one putative Little Shearwater, good numbers of Cory's and a few Balearic Shearwaters. All Storm-Petrels which were identified turned out to be European.
Camping Miramonte, Tanger
Not a true birding site as such, but on our first night at this nice camp-site we taped in a (Maghreb) Tanwy Owl (35.790820,-5.831643). Over here we also recorded our first of the many African Blue Tits and (Atlas) Common Chaffinch to follow. It is situated just outside the centre of Tanger.
Merja Zerga
While birding in the area on our own we quickly ran into some kids who were eager to show us the African Marsh-Owl. There was no chance in seeking it ourself as they were rather persevering and pushy. Right after we enjoyed great views of the bird (34.81542,-6.29912) an older man joined the party, chased away the kids and wanted to guide us himself. We thanked him friendly for that and off we were. We had the first (Moroccan) White Wagtail near the canal, while on the pool near the dirt road (34.82161,-6.30364) we saw our only Red-knobbed Coots (2).
Oukaimeden
Our first stop was near the highest parking lot at the ski resort of Oukaimeden where we soon found a nice flock of (African) Crimson-winged Finches (31.19917,-7.85853). In the same area we had good numbers of (Atlas) Horned Larks and a few (Seebohm's) Northern Wheatears. On our way down we made some small stops which produced respectively our first but distant Levaillants Woodpecker (31.24260,-7.80791), (Atlas) Red Crossbill (31.26344,-7.81879) and a last stop more down only added our only buvryi Hawfinch and the first mauritanus Great Spotted Woodpecker (31.26404,-7.82166) for the trip. We also observed our first Barbary Partridges, Moussier's Redstarts and (Atlas) Long-legged Buzzards for the trip.
Tamri
En route to Tamri we noted our first (Maghreb) Eurasian Magpies, which were regularly seen in the coastal region.
Near the river mouth just before the village of Tamri we found some foraging Waldrapps on the river banks (30.71291,-9.85377). Some more were seen flying around the hills just above the river. Along the route we identified a few algeriensis Southern Gray Shrikes. Furthermore we only had some Audouin's Gulls.
Oued Souss
The mouth of the Oued Souss did not yield too many special birds: only some Audouin's Gulls and (White-breasted) Great Cormorants. At dusk we heard some distant Red-necked Nightjars calling before we finally were able to tape one in and get good views of it (30.36233,-9.57211).
Oued Massa
On our way to the reserve we crossed a bridge where we picked up a pair of Plain Martins (29.961948,-9.658632). We birded the reserve towards the mouth of the river and saw some good birds like Black-crowned Tchagra, Western Olivaceous Warber (in this general area 30.06875,-9.66363).
Lake Mansour
A half-hour stop at the Eastern border of the Lake produced not much more than our only 2 Marbled Teals (30.92566,-6.87036).
Tagdilt Track
The evening before we arrived at Boumalne we were lucky enough to find our major target for the Tagdilt Track: a nice (Western) Mourning Wheatear en route (somewhere here 31.39966,-6.06525). The loop also added a single Bonelli's Eagle.
We just followed a jeep track into the arid plains and saw most of the interesting species right away (this area 31.34691,-5.95101): several Thick-billed Larks, some Red-rumped Wheatears, good numbers of Greater Hoopoe Lark and fairly common Temminck's Larks. We also recorded some more Cream-colored Coursers. We could not find any other sandgrouse than Black-bellied...
Rissani
We first tried our luck for the Pharao Eagle-Owl at the well known spot near Rissani (). Upon arrival we were joined by some locals wo wanted to 'guide' us to the Egle-Owl. Unfortunately we were not able to find any. One of the guys proposed to show us another and would not charge anything if we did not get to see it. The bird did no let us down and was seen roosting in it's cavity in a steep cliff (31.20882,-4.31368). Our first Brown-necked Ravens were seen in this area.
Two days later we visited another site in the area where we hoped to find us some Fulvous Chatterers in vain. We only ran into several Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters (31.25385,-4.28436).
Merzouga
We choose the lovely Hotel Yasmina as our base. In the morning some we joined some Spanish bird ringers and had in hand views of a European Scops-Owl and some migrating passerines. In contrary to what locals said it was not necessary to have an expensive 4WD take us to an oasis in order to see Desert Sparrows. There was an occupied breeding box in the trees right behind our Hotel (31.21294,-3.98915)! We also recorded Eastern Olivaceous Warbler in the same area.
In order to find Houbaras we would have needed a longer and more expensive 4WD according to the same people...
Closer to the main road (31.2288,-4.1279) we were able to get great views for all of some African Desert Warblers and a Dunn's Lark was a very unexpected bonus bird! Previous years there have been some documented breeding records, so it seems they are still around...
Some other African Desert Warblers were seen along the dirt track (31.24100,-4.08515).
The first evening we tried to find an Egyptian Nightjar but did not get any response due to the very windy weather. The next day found us searching for a day roosting bird in the same area against all odds (31.29501,-4.19122). We did see some (Long-billed) Crested Larks though...
Other species of note were: Cream-colored Courser, Greater Hoopoe-Lark and Brown-necked Raven.
Km 43 Goulmima - Ar-Rachidia
A late morning visit to this area was rewarded with our only views of a party of Fulvous Chatterers, our only but confiding Spectacled Warbler and the (African) Streaked Scrub-Warbler. All birds were seen at the very same spot (31.75410,-4.83162). On the other side of the road we had some more Scrub-Warblers in the same scrubby gully.
Tizi Pass
On the way from Merzouga to Zeida we made a roadside stop just below the Tizi Pass. At least 3 different Tristram's Warblers were immediately seen (32.60900,-4.52669). More were heard in the area.
Zeida plains
In the late afternoon we arrived at the scenic plains near Zeida where we quickly heard our main target species singing: Dupont's Lark. 2 birds were seen and 1 more heard (32.79421,-4.93121). Other species seen included several Cream-colored Coursers, good numbers of Lesser Short-toed Lark and last but not least an unexpected Houbara Bustard (somewhere here 32.79237,-4.93212).
Ifrane
Our main target was the recently split Atlas Flycatcher. Several trip reports state that they arrive by the end of April. Hence we tried to schedule this area towards the end of our trip. We might have had some luck with the very mild weather as it didn't take too long before we found ourself a beautiful male (33.48960,-5.14694). The bird was found calling but did not sing, not even after playback. Levaillant's Woodpecker was fairly easy to come across in the pine forest (33.48647,-5.13877). We regularly heard one calling and with some playback patience we all enjoyed several good sightings. (Maghreb) Short-toed Treecreepers were not difficult to find in the area.
Sidi Yahya
After 3 Double-spurred Francolins were flushed (33.70399,-6.92865) we didn't linger much longer in the rainy weather...
FULL TRIP LIST
Taxonomy strictly follows Clements' 6th Edition (incl. updates). The list only contains species positively identified by at least one of our group. Birds identified by guides or other people only are not included, presumed species neither...
[203 species]
BUTTERFLY LIST