simmojunior
Well-known member
Following WolfBirder's recent trip report, I thought I would post a few photos from my recent trip.
I was in Morocco with three friends from 25th March -31st March with an extra day for me in Marrakech. We hired a car and had very few problems apart from a 200 MAD "fine" (supposedly reduced from 400 MAD) for I am not sure what and the need to dig out the car I needlessly got stuck in the sand in a car park. Neither of my friends drive so I did it all but, despite being concerned before about the distances, it was not too bad.
The trip was a great success with 21 lifers for me. The only realistic misses were Crimson-winged Finch (think we were a few days too late) and Maghreb Owl (did not sufficiently try). Highlights included a superb morning at Tagdilt Track where we cleaned up in a few hours, a showy Tristram's Warbler in Dades Gorge, super White-crowned Wheatears in every town, 100s of both Crowned and Spotted Sandgrouse, Pharoah Eagle Owl and finally getting Levaillant's Woodpecker at the 500th attempt! We focussed on targets but also enjoyed a fair number of migrants including Wryneck, Blue-cheeked Bee-Eater and Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin.
We did one night Ourika (two visits to Oukaimeden), one night Boulmane Dades, one night Todra Gorge, two nights at the excellent Tuareg Rest Camp in the desert near Erg Chebbi (with breeding Desert Sparrows!) and one night by Ait Ben Haddou. We hired Birding Tours Morocco for the one day in the desert for 160 euros and they got us our targets. Food and accomodation was excellent throughout.
My ebird trip report is here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/116880 All species covered but did not list all sites so we saw many of the birds more times than is shown.
I was in Morocco with three friends from 25th March -31st March with an extra day for me in Marrakech. We hired a car and had very few problems apart from a 200 MAD "fine" (supposedly reduced from 400 MAD) for I am not sure what and the need to dig out the car I needlessly got stuck in the sand in a car park. Neither of my friends drive so I did it all but, despite being concerned before about the distances, it was not too bad.
The trip was a great success with 21 lifers for me. The only realistic misses were Crimson-winged Finch (think we were a few days too late) and Maghreb Owl (did not sufficiently try). Highlights included a superb morning at Tagdilt Track where we cleaned up in a few hours, a showy Tristram's Warbler in Dades Gorge, super White-crowned Wheatears in every town, 100s of both Crowned and Spotted Sandgrouse, Pharoah Eagle Owl and finally getting Levaillant's Woodpecker at the 500th attempt! We focussed on targets but also enjoyed a fair number of migrants including Wryneck, Blue-cheeked Bee-Eater and Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin.
We did one night Ourika (two visits to Oukaimeden), one night Boulmane Dades, one night Todra Gorge, two nights at the excellent Tuareg Rest Camp in the desert near Erg Chebbi (with breeding Desert Sparrows!) and one night by Ait Ben Haddou. We hired Birding Tours Morocco for the one day in the desert for 160 euros and they got us our targets. Food and accomodation was excellent throughout.
My ebird trip report is here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/116880 All species covered but did not list all sites so we saw many of the birds more times than is shown.
