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Long Range Desert Group: Western Sahara by Jeep February 2019 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Farnboro John
- Start date
Farnboro John
Well-known member
Larking about (2)
Greater Hoopoe-lark
Greater Hoopoe-lark and Temminck's Lark
Red-rumped Wheatear male
Cream-coloured Courser X 2
Greater Hoopoe-lark
Greater Hoopoe-lark and Temminck's Lark
Red-rumped Wheatear male
Cream-coloured Courser X 2
Attachments
Farnboro John
Well-known member
Larking about (3)
Dunn's Lark X 2
Sahara Sunset
Jeep parked very definitely on the road
Desert Moonrise - the moon is full - keep to the road....
Dunn's Lark X 2
Sahara Sunset
Jeep parked very definitely on the road
Desert Moonrise - the moon is full - keep to the road....
Attachments
RafaelMatias
Unknown member
Great stuff!!
The blue on your post #20 is a Zizeeria sp. The green eyes are totally distinctive. It could be either Zizeeria knysna or Z. karsandra, I'm not sure how to distinguish both species. The bold post discal spots on the front wings do not strike me as a typical knysna character (Z. knysna is very common in Portugal), but I'm not familiar with Z. karsandra to comment further...
The blue on your post #20 is a Zizeeria sp. The green eyes are totally distinctive. It could be either Zizeeria knysna or Z. karsandra, I'm not sure how to distinguish both species. The bold post discal spots on the front wings do not strike me as a typical knysna character (Z. knysna is very common in Portugal), but I'm not familiar with Z. karsandra to comment further...
James Lowther
Well-known member
What about the berm?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroccan_Western_Sahara_Wall
Nice report John
James
jurek
Well-known member
Uh, I did not know such a wall existed.
Note, that the problem for birders is rather common crime, which can originate from Morocco itself or Mauritania. Mauritania is not safe for tourists (although not in any war or armed conflict).
I was not feeling unsafe camping near Aousserd and I have no opinion whatsoever about politics of North Africa. But I was aware that roadside police and army checkpoints in Western Sahara are really the only law enforcement over tens of thousands of square kilometers of land. Without these, the area could really turn into no-law county. You know where the word "Barbarians" originated.
Note, that the problem for birders is rather common crime, which can originate from Morocco itself or Mauritania. Mauritania is not safe for tourists (although not in any war or armed conflict).
I was not feeling unsafe camping near Aousserd and I have no opinion whatsoever about politics of North Africa. But I was aware that roadside police and army checkpoints in Western Sahara are really the only law enforcement over tens of thousands of square kilometers of land. Without these, the area could really turn into no-law county. You know where the word "Barbarians" originated.
Last edited:
Farnboro John
Well-known member
Thank you one and all....
Tuesday 2000 – Wednesday 0400
It was dark before we reached Oued Jenna and someone was there ahead of us – a big 4WD was parked at the side of the road and several darkly clothed forms were spread among the bushes. We decided to keep going for a bit, being (as usual) unsure of who they were and what their attitude might be.
By the time we’d gone as far as we planned and started back, our reward had been no more than a couple of high-speed Jerboas and a cryptic sighting of a gerbil. Reaching Oued Jenna on the return leg we stopped by the 4WD and spoke to the birders (of course they were, we knew that all along really), who turned out to be listening unsuccessfully for Golden Nightjars. They hadn’t had anything else either.
After leaving them and continuing our own search, we had an African Wildcat not too far from the road that moved a bit and then crouched by a small bush, allowing us to get some pictures. Unfortunately the necessity of setting up for the worst case – a distant animal – meant that the camera and flash were on max chat and flared out one eye, but it’s better than not getting a shot – I guess….
A big herd of Dromedaries near the road was next. Most upped and lurched away into the darkness, leaving a few roosting on the sand. Flashing red lights coming down the road had the torches extinguished in record time. It proved to be someone being casevacced to the coast from Aousserd, not the coppers. “What’s the French for ambulance?” somebody mumbled.
It was quite a cold night – colder than the previous one, for sure. During a stop I photographed Matt wrapped up to keep warm – what every well-dressed birder is wearing in the desert night this year!
Back in the car and on with the game. Suddenly there was a yell from the far side of the car – “cat close – it’s a Sand Cat!” Leaning across I got a short view of the back end of the cat making off through the usual low bushes and grasses and out onto open desert. It went behind a low ridge (like 3 foot) some way off and reappeared heading left, parallel to the road. We moved the car to catch up and once stopped again, I took a few shots at extreme range with the aid of the torches and flash.
We began to be uncertain – was it a bit leggy for Sand Cat? Were the markings right? I dug the field guide out, but it wasn’t a lot of help. It did seem that the markings were right but the shape and shagginess of the cat depicted (only one picture, mammal field guides are definitely behind bird ones not only in general quality of depiction but also by omitting to show ranges of poses etc) were far removed from our animal. Looking at the photos on the back of the camera didn’t really help.
Discussion went backwards and forwards but the cat kept going in the same direction and I reckon we followed it for at least a kilometre before losing it behind more broken terrain.
Jumping forward a bit, by the following morning we had concluded it wasn’t identifiable with the information available and even I (perhaps its most enthusiastic advocate) scored it out in my notebook.
Jumping forward more, when we got home I was able to process the photos. I found it was best not to do much to them as I lost a lot of detail almost whatever I did. Accordingly what you see below has been brightened, had the colour upped one notch and been cropped heavily – that’s it. No extra contrast, no noise reduction, no sharpening, no nothing else. That said, here comes the sales pitch.
Having looked at my own photos and decided that there was still a case to answer, I reckoned that the first thing was to establish whether a Sand Cat could look like our one. I googled Sand Cat and found photos that suggested it could. I came up with these points to note: The bar across the inside of the foreleg. The double bars on the outside of the foreleg. The multiple but fainter bars on the hind legs. The fact that these cats can show a thin ratty tail quite unlike the field guide illustration. Tail pattern. The proportions of the animal overall.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?...8014132009962357&selectedIndex=309&ajaxhist=0
https://www.bing.com/images/search?...8011353141217452&selectedIndex=621&ajaxhist=0
I thought initially what we had thought in the field - the legs are too long. However, bear in mind that to confirm that the leg length is acceptable, it is not necessary to find that the legs are outside the proportions of African Wildcat, or even that they match most Sand Cats. All they have to do is be within the range of Sand Cat variation. That is the objective fact. I was not completely surprised (because of the markings) to find a couple of pictures (the linked ones) that matched our cat's proportions, without great difficulty. That's all we need. The legs are not too long, end of.
Most of the Sand Cat photos on the web are of captive animals kept in cooler climes than the actual habitat and mostly not undertaking any serious exercise (I mean as the picture is taken). Like zoo Meerkats, they are fat and heavily furred. The wild-taken photos show a rather different animal that really does match ours structurally rather well.
And I'll come back to the markings being spot on. Which they really are: that double band on the outside of the forelegs seems to be essentially diagnostic. The hind legs have more stripes, less contrasting. The tail is less distinct from African Wildcat's markings, so I attribute less weight to it, but in shape and length (including compared to leg length) it exactly fits the wild Sand Cat photos.
So I'm still prepared to tick Sand Cat: also, I actually do trust that first impression from those who were on the right side of the car, even though they are unsure themselves..... I'm happy with it, but I accept that the others aren't and have their reasons. These things happen when you are operating at the edge of what is possible.
As we were stopped we thought we’d have something to eat. At this point we made a tragic discovery – we had decided to get some tasty pain au chocolat to spice up our rather monotonous diet, but in our enthusiasm we had forgotten to get the night’s baguettes and a single pain au chocolat each was our only food for the night! Merde alors….
We carried on, the night passed, we had another African Wildcat distantly, and found a Ruppell’s Fox that didn’t pull the usual trick of running away but carried on lying curled up in the lee of a small bush, one eye occasionally cocked in our direction just to work us out. I got a record shot and eventually it got tired of being illuminated, standing up and trotting away round the bush and off across the desert.
Long gaps with not much going on. Another Ruppell’s Fox, that ran away some distance but then stopped and gave a reasonable view – but legged it again before I thought to try a shot with the camera. Enjoyed the view though. Onward again, and suddenly a stop that shook me out of a near doze (lucky I hadn’t lost my grip on the camera really, I was fading in and out without realising it.) News from the front: there’s a wolf lying in the road!
Of course, by the time I was fully awake it wasn’t in the road but it had run to my side and at least I was getting good views – then it stopped and looked back, one of the others had the awesomely great idea of trying to squeak it as if it was a weasel, and you know what? It worked! It was apparent the African Golden Wolf was paying serious attention to the rodent-like squeaks coming from several sets of pursed lips in the car. It even took a few steps back towards us before pausing again. At this point I rather lost control and took the photo I’d been waiting for until I was sure everyone had seen the beast properly. Unfortunately the wolf took severe exception to the flash and bolted. Steve delivered a rather schoolmasterish critique of my action and I said nothing, because he was basically right. But I’m not sure how long we would have continued to hold it for, anyway…
That was the third dog tick of the trip. I’ve never ticked three dog species in one trip before, I’m not even sure where else it would be possible. I was above and beyond overjoyed. Fabulous.
After that a couple of Stone Curlews and a Maghreb/Savanna Hare (good but brief view as it shot off) were the only significant wildlife. We did have a bit of a go at a side track but found a very soft patch as well as some big ruts and decided discretion was the better part of valour.
We got home at about 0400. Early night!
John
Matt modelling desert fashion
African Wildcat
Sand Cat X 3
Tuesday 2000 – Wednesday 0400
It was dark before we reached Oued Jenna and someone was there ahead of us – a big 4WD was parked at the side of the road and several darkly clothed forms were spread among the bushes. We decided to keep going for a bit, being (as usual) unsure of who they were and what their attitude might be.
By the time we’d gone as far as we planned and started back, our reward had been no more than a couple of high-speed Jerboas and a cryptic sighting of a gerbil. Reaching Oued Jenna on the return leg we stopped by the 4WD and spoke to the birders (of course they were, we knew that all along really), who turned out to be listening unsuccessfully for Golden Nightjars. They hadn’t had anything else either.
After leaving them and continuing our own search, we had an African Wildcat not too far from the road that moved a bit and then crouched by a small bush, allowing us to get some pictures. Unfortunately the necessity of setting up for the worst case – a distant animal – meant that the camera and flash were on max chat and flared out one eye, but it’s better than not getting a shot – I guess….
A big herd of Dromedaries near the road was next. Most upped and lurched away into the darkness, leaving a few roosting on the sand. Flashing red lights coming down the road had the torches extinguished in record time. It proved to be someone being casevacced to the coast from Aousserd, not the coppers. “What’s the French for ambulance?” somebody mumbled.
It was quite a cold night – colder than the previous one, for sure. During a stop I photographed Matt wrapped up to keep warm – what every well-dressed birder is wearing in the desert night this year!
Back in the car and on with the game. Suddenly there was a yell from the far side of the car – “cat close – it’s a Sand Cat!” Leaning across I got a short view of the back end of the cat making off through the usual low bushes and grasses and out onto open desert. It went behind a low ridge (like 3 foot) some way off and reappeared heading left, parallel to the road. We moved the car to catch up and once stopped again, I took a few shots at extreme range with the aid of the torches and flash.
We began to be uncertain – was it a bit leggy for Sand Cat? Were the markings right? I dug the field guide out, but it wasn’t a lot of help. It did seem that the markings were right but the shape and shagginess of the cat depicted (only one picture, mammal field guides are definitely behind bird ones not only in general quality of depiction but also by omitting to show ranges of poses etc) were far removed from our animal. Looking at the photos on the back of the camera didn’t really help.
Discussion went backwards and forwards but the cat kept going in the same direction and I reckon we followed it for at least a kilometre before losing it behind more broken terrain.
Jumping forward a bit, by the following morning we had concluded it wasn’t identifiable with the information available and even I (perhaps its most enthusiastic advocate) scored it out in my notebook.
Jumping forward more, when we got home I was able to process the photos. I found it was best not to do much to them as I lost a lot of detail almost whatever I did. Accordingly what you see below has been brightened, had the colour upped one notch and been cropped heavily – that’s it. No extra contrast, no noise reduction, no sharpening, no nothing else. That said, here comes the sales pitch.
Having looked at my own photos and decided that there was still a case to answer, I reckoned that the first thing was to establish whether a Sand Cat could look like our one. I googled Sand Cat and found photos that suggested it could. I came up with these points to note: The bar across the inside of the foreleg. The double bars on the outside of the foreleg. The multiple but fainter bars on the hind legs. The fact that these cats can show a thin ratty tail quite unlike the field guide illustration. Tail pattern. The proportions of the animal overall.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?...8014132009962357&selectedIndex=309&ajaxhist=0
https://www.bing.com/images/search?...8011353141217452&selectedIndex=621&ajaxhist=0
I thought initially what we had thought in the field - the legs are too long. However, bear in mind that to confirm that the leg length is acceptable, it is not necessary to find that the legs are outside the proportions of African Wildcat, or even that they match most Sand Cats. All they have to do is be within the range of Sand Cat variation. That is the objective fact. I was not completely surprised (because of the markings) to find a couple of pictures (the linked ones) that matched our cat's proportions, without great difficulty. That's all we need. The legs are not too long, end of.
Most of the Sand Cat photos on the web are of captive animals kept in cooler climes than the actual habitat and mostly not undertaking any serious exercise (I mean as the picture is taken). Like zoo Meerkats, they are fat and heavily furred. The wild-taken photos show a rather different animal that really does match ours structurally rather well.
And I'll come back to the markings being spot on. Which they really are: that double band on the outside of the forelegs seems to be essentially diagnostic. The hind legs have more stripes, less contrasting. The tail is less distinct from African Wildcat's markings, so I attribute less weight to it, but in shape and length (including compared to leg length) it exactly fits the wild Sand Cat photos.
So I'm still prepared to tick Sand Cat: also, I actually do trust that first impression from those who were on the right side of the car, even though they are unsure themselves..... I'm happy with it, but I accept that the others aren't and have their reasons. These things happen when you are operating at the edge of what is possible.
As we were stopped we thought we’d have something to eat. At this point we made a tragic discovery – we had decided to get some tasty pain au chocolat to spice up our rather monotonous diet, but in our enthusiasm we had forgotten to get the night’s baguettes and a single pain au chocolat each was our only food for the night! Merde alors….
We carried on, the night passed, we had another African Wildcat distantly, and found a Ruppell’s Fox that didn’t pull the usual trick of running away but carried on lying curled up in the lee of a small bush, one eye occasionally cocked in our direction just to work us out. I got a record shot and eventually it got tired of being illuminated, standing up and trotting away round the bush and off across the desert.
Long gaps with not much going on. Another Ruppell’s Fox, that ran away some distance but then stopped and gave a reasonable view – but legged it again before I thought to try a shot with the camera. Enjoyed the view though. Onward again, and suddenly a stop that shook me out of a near doze (lucky I hadn’t lost my grip on the camera really, I was fading in and out without realising it.) News from the front: there’s a wolf lying in the road!
Of course, by the time I was fully awake it wasn’t in the road but it had run to my side and at least I was getting good views – then it stopped and looked back, one of the others had the awesomely great idea of trying to squeak it as if it was a weasel, and you know what? It worked! It was apparent the African Golden Wolf was paying serious attention to the rodent-like squeaks coming from several sets of pursed lips in the car. It even took a few steps back towards us before pausing again. At this point I rather lost control and took the photo I’d been waiting for until I was sure everyone had seen the beast properly. Unfortunately the wolf took severe exception to the flash and bolted. Steve delivered a rather schoolmasterish critique of my action and I said nothing, because he was basically right. But I’m not sure how long we would have continued to hold it for, anyway…
That was the third dog tick of the trip. I’ve never ticked three dog species in one trip before, I’m not even sure where else it would be possible. I was above and beyond overjoyed. Fabulous.
After that a couple of Stone Curlews and a Maghreb/Savanna Hare (good but brief view as it shot off) were the only significant wildlife. We did have a bit of a go at a side track but found a very soft patch as well as some big ruts and decided discretion was the better part of valour.
We got home at about 0400. Early night!
John
Matt modelling desert fashion
African Wildcat
Sand Cat X 3
Attachments
Last edited:
Farnboro John
Well-known member
wolfbirder
Well-known member
Closer picture of the wild sandcat at night that you highlighted above, here: -
https://images.newscientist.com/wp-...nd-cat-photo-environment-agency-abu-dhabi.jpg
A picture of a wildcat here in same posture as photo 4 (albeit in sunlight): -
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/JPW22B/af...ybica-kgalagadi-transfrontier-park-JPW22B.jpg
Really tough John, only you can say what you saw, photos only tell part a story. On the 4th of your attached photos (bottom of post 27), does it look like 4 stripes on the fore-leg though? Having said that, it doesn't look like 4 stripes on the other two images of the same animal, and in support of sand-cat, in looking at the same photo (4th one) is the clear lack of inner leg stripes on the hind-leg. Most Wildcats show that feature, but not all
-.
The size and proportion of the head in my humble opinion is more indicative of sand-cat. But I've got no experience of either, just always loved wild cats.
Probably doesn't add much to what you already knew anyway. Finally, attached is a short video of a search for the Sand Cat in the Aousserd area (scroll down a bit on the link).
https://www.catsforafrica.co.za/sand-cat-felis-margarita/sand-cat-adaptations-desert-habitat-videos/
https://images.newscientist.com/wp-...nd-cat-photo-environment-agency-abu-dhabi.jpg
A picture of a wildcat here in same posture as photo 4 (albeit in sunlight): -
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/JPW22B/af...ybica-kgalagadi-transfrontier-park-JPW22B.jpg
Really tough John, only you can say what you saw, photos only tell part a story. On the 4th of your attached photos (bottom of post 27), does it look like 4 stripes on the fore-leg though? Having said that, it doesn't look like 4 stripes on the other two images of the same animal, and in support of sand-cat, in looking at the same photo (4th one) is the clear lack of inner leg stripes on the hind-leg. Most Wildcats show that feature, but not all
-.The size and proportion of the head in my humble opinion is more indicative of sand-cat. But I've got no experience of either, just always loved wild cats.
Probably doesn't add much to what you already knew anyway. Finally, attached is a short video of a search for the Sand Cat in the Aousserd area (scroll down a bit on the link).
https://www.catsforafrica.co.za/sand-cat-felis-margarita/sand-cat-adaptations-desert-habitat-videos/
Last edited:
Farnboro John
Well-known member
Nice video - bloody aggressive pursuit of some of the animals, though. Thank you for your thoughts.
Wednesday 1130 - 2000
When we woke at 1130 we had a council of war and decided that after the odyssey of our arrival, we really shouldn’t just reverse the procedure to get back to Agadir. Instead we would cut our stay in Dakhla short by a day, drive about halfway back, to Laayoune, on Thursday: overnight there and complete the journey on Friday, overnighting again and having the morning and early afternoon to bird around that area of Morocco. This would give us access to some new species and make for an easier end to the trip.
Then we headed for the Bivouac Café for our regular dose of tacos etc and a laddish eyeballing of the hot waitress. Perhaps she would even clean the windows again….
When we got there, to our dismay the shutters were down – the café was closed!!!
Were we early? Maybe…. We walked over anyway – there was a chap sitting at one of the outside tables – and he assured us the delay was temporary, even going inside through a half-pulled up door shutter to confirm this. Thus relieved we wandered over to the waterfront for some desultory birding more or less straight into the sun. To be honest there wasn’t much: local anglers were occupying enough of the rocky foreshore to prevent most landing and the gull roosts weren’t anywhere near us.
Back at the café the shutters were up and with relief we could order our main meal of the day. Once that was consumed we made our way slowly along the waterfront of the lagoon, looking for both seabirds and dolphins. The dolphins were again a no-show but Caspian Terns got our attention as always and Steve found us an African Royal Tern – not an immediate tick but certainly a good one to have in the bank. Spoonbills and Greater Flamingos provided interest in the shallow channels where the tide had receded near the head of the lagoon and we checked out a new viewpoint for us within the kitesurfer RV camp, where I tried to string shapeless lumps of stuff on islands into Monk Seals. Telescopes brought detailed reality to pop the fantasy. No tick.
Scouring the coast had found us more shorebirds than hitherto. All familiar stuff but it was nice to raise the trip list with some of Whimbrel, Greenshank, Bar-tailed Godwit, Redshank and Oystercatcher.
Up past the police posts and a quick stop at the filling station for both fuel and air (at least I think that’s where we got it today) before pointing the nose of the Jeep once more along the Aousserd road. Last time, in fact. Visible migration included a couple of Black Kites and a male Marsh Harrier determinedly flapping North. Other than that we had Black Wheatear (once again not giving a photo-opportunity) and revisited Dunn’s Lark courtesy of a couple of French/Belgian birders who had found them and were sneaking up (insofar as one can on a flat desert in bright sunshine) to photograph them. We looked where their lenses were pointing – bingo.
Distantly we had half an eye on a long row of bushes but the other birders said they’d walked practically the whole length and seen nothing. We won’t bother, then.
We’d had a discussion in the café (what’s French for café?) on why we weren’t catching up with some of the local specialities, and I’d suggested that like the green area where the pools had dried up, perhaps the problem with chasing down GPS locations where birds had been was that changing conditions had made them move on – after all, we all knew many African birds are nomadic.
With that in mind we decided to concentrate on copses where the bushes looked greenest and check those out, rather than keep going to places where birds used to be. But before that we took our courage in both hands (or perhaps both feet) and began to wander off-road in an area that we thought constituted suitable habitat for African Desert Warbler. Our first effort at this did not find us our target but there was a slightly funny moment when we were walking in single file (remember this is supposed to be the most heavily mined country in the world) and someone suggested we really needed to spread out and cover more ground. We all agreed vocally, and carried right on walking in the exact footprints of the one in front…..
Still with a foot on each of our eight ankles, we returned to the road and set off on the far side a little more confidently, though I at least kept a closer eye on where I was walking than on the surrounding low bushes, relying on hearing calls to find birds. And we got lucky, finding a singing male African Desert Warbler that proved quite flighty – or perhaps it was just covering a large territory. Nailed, anyway, and some truly terrible record shots to prove it. Back to the car and onward.
Matt’s sharp eyes picked up a largish brown passerine in a bunch of quite green bushes so we quickly parked up and tumbled out to have a look. It was a Fulvous Babbler and in first following that individual and then wandering through the bushes we found another seven. The first one even sat up briefly for pictures.
As our wanderings continued we found a lark scuttling through long grass that gave us pause. It had a big triangular bill and some dark or even blackish undertail coverts and despite the rest of the plumage being nondescript we concluded that it could only be a Black-crowned Sparrow-lark and another tick – at any rate for those of us who hadn’t heard Matt’s call earlier in the week, which come to think of it was all three of us. Good save! Things were definitely looking up.
I spotted a small flock of small finchy things in a bush at the edge of the higher level bushes where it reverted to knee-high scrub and open desert. They flew towards and past us, and we all clearly saw the head patterns as they did so – five Desert Sparrows and another much-wanted tick! Steve, who is a stickler for views, immediately told me I couldn’t tick them on that view, to which I riposted that having seen all the features necessary I was certainly having them, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want to follow them up and get better views! Which we then did. Luckily the birds had settled in bushes back the way we had come, and even more luckily they weren’t too bothered about us and allowed us a close enough approach to get views that satisfied Steve (though still a long reach for the camera).
We had been feeling the pressure as the sun sank towards the horizon but this little burst of ticking quite restored our optimism. Swallows were feeding as they passed through at low altitude and a Southern Grey Shrike was hunting in among the bushes: then we had a couple of Cricket Warblers to finish off the daylight phase of birding.
John
Migrating Marsh Harrier X 2
French birders having Dunn's Lark: distant bush line behind. That's why we didn't bother.
African Desert Warbler
Fulvous Babbler
Wednesday 1130 - 2000
When we woke at 1130 we had a council of war and decided that after the odyssey of our arrival, we really shouldn’t just reverse the procedure to get back to Agadir. Instead we would cut our stay in Dakhla short by a day, drive about halfway back, to Laayoune, on Thursday: overnight there and complete the journey on Friday, overnighting again and having the morning and early afternoon to bird around that area of Morocco. This would give us access to some new species and make for an easier end to the trip.
Then we headed for the Bivouac Café for our regular dose of tacos etc and a laddish eyeballing of the hot waitress. Perhaps she would even clean the windows again….
When we got there, to our dismay the shutters were down – the café was closed!!!
Were we early? Maybe…. We walked over anyway – there was a chap sitting at one of the outside tables – and he assured us the delay was temporary, even going inside through a half-pulled up door shutter to confirm this. Thus relieved we wandered over to the waterfront for some desultory birding more or less straight into the sun. To be honest there wasn’t much: local anglers were occupying enough of the rocky foreshore to prevent most landing and the gull roosts weren’t anywhere near us.
Back at the café the shutters were up and with relief we could order our main meal of the day. Once that was consumed we made our way slowly along the waterfront of the lagoon, looking for both seabirds and dolphins. The dolphins were again a no-show but Caspian Terns got our attention as always and Steve found us an African Royal Tern – not an immediate tick but certainly a good one to have in the bank. Spoonbills and Greater Flamingos provided interest in the shallow channels where the tide had receded near the head of the lagoon and we checked out a new viewpoint for us within the kitesurfer RV camp, where I tried to string shapeless lumps of stuff on islands into Monk Seals. Telescopes brought detailed reality to pop the fantasy. No tick.
Scouring the coast had found us more shorebirds than hitherto. All familiar stuff but it was nice to raise the trip list with some of Whimbrel, Greenshank, Bar-tailed Godwit, Redshank and Oystercatcher.
Up past the police posts and a quick stop at the filling station for both fuel and air (at least I think that’s where we got it today) before pointing the nose of the Jeep once more along the Aousserd road. Last time, in fact. Visible migration included a couple of Black Kites and a male Marsh Harrier determinedly flapping North. Other than that we had Black Wheatear (once again not giving a photo-opportunity) and revisited Dunn’s Lark courtesy of a couple of French/Belgian birders who had found them and were sneaking up (insofar as one can on a flat desert in bright sunshine) to photograph them. We looked where their lenses were pointing – bingo.
Distantly we had half an eye on a long row of bushes but the other birders said they’d walked practically the whole length and seen nothing. We won’t bother, then.
We’d had a discussion in the café (what’s French for café?) on why we weren’t catching up with some of the local specialities, and I’d suggested that like the green area where the pools had dried up, perhaps the problem with chasing down GPS locations where birds had been was that changing conditions had made them move on – after all, we all knew many African birds are nomadic.
With that in mind we decided to concentrate on copses where the bushes looked greenest and check those out, rather than keep going to places where birds used to be. But before that we took our courage in both hands (or perhaps both feet) and began to wander off-road in an area that we thought constituted suitable habitat for African Desert Warbler. Our first effort at this did not find us our target but there was a slightly funny moment when we were walking in single file (remember this is supposed to be the most heavily mined country in the world) and someone suggested we really needed to spread out and cover more ground. We all agreed vocally, and carried right on walking in the exact footprints of the one in front…..
Still with a foot on each of our eight ankles, we returned to the road and set off on the far side a little more confidently, though I at least kept a closer eye on where I was walking than on the surrounding low bushes, relying on hearing calls to find birds. And we got lucky, finding a singing male African Desert Warbler that proved quite flighty – or perhaps it was just covering a large territory. Nailed, anyway, and some truly terrible record shots to prove it. Back to the car and onward.
Matt’s sharp eyes picked up a largish brown passerine in a bunch of quite green bushes so we quickly parked up and tumbled out to have a look. It was a Fulvous Babbler and in first following that individual and then wandering through the bushes we found another seven. The first one even sat up briefly for pictures.
As our wanderings continued we found a lark scuttling through long grass that gave us pause. It had a big triangular bill and some dark or even blackish undertail coverts and despite the rest of the plumage being nondescript we concluded that it could only be a Black-crowned Sparrow-lark and another tick – at any rate for those of us who hadn’t heard Matt’s call earlier in the week, which come to think of it was all three of us. Good save! Things were definitely looking up.
I spotted a small flock of small finchy things in a bush at the edge of the higher level bushes where it reverted to knee-high scrub and open desert. They flew towards and past us, and we all clearly saw the head patterns as they did so – five Desert Sparrows and another much-wanted tick! Steve, who is a stickler for views, immediately told me I couldn’t tick them on that view, to which I riposted that having seen all the features necessary I was certainly having them, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want to follow them up and get better views! Which we then did. Luckily the birds had settled in bushes back the way we had come, and even more luckily they weren’t too bothered about us and allowed us a close enough approach to get views that satisfied Steve (though still a long reach for the camera).
We had been feeling the pressure as the sun sank towards the horizon but this little burst of ticking quite restored our optimism. Swallows were feeding as they passed through at low altitude and a Southern Grey Shrike was hunting in among the bushes: then we had a couple of Cricket Warblers to finish off the daylight phase of birding.
John
Migrating Marsh Harrier X 2
French birders having Dunn's Lark: distant bush line behind. That's why we didn't bother.
African Desert Warbler
Fulvous Babbler
Attachments
Farnboro John
Well-known member
Later in the afternoon:
Squash sp - we saw a lot of this on the roadside and quickly realised it wasn't actually fallen produce from an overloaded truck. Don't know what it is though!
Black-crowned Sparrow-lark
Desert Sparrow
Cricket Warbler
Sahara scrub (at the edge of a copse)
Squash sp - we saw a lot of this on the roadside and quickly realised it wasn't actually fallen produce from an overloaded truck. Don't know what it is though!
Black-crowned Sparrow-lark
Desert Sparrow
Cricket Warbler
Sahara scrub (at the edge of a copse)
Attachments
Farnboro John
Well-known member
Seth Miller
Well-known member
Great story, birds, and mammals! Love your writing style!
Farnboro John
Well-known member
Thank you all for the compliments. I seem to have a lot going on, sorry about the breaks in the flow!
Wednesday 2000 – Thursday 0315
We had a bit of a listen in the dusk for Golden Nightjar calls with a conspicuous lack of success. Then it was on with the cold-weather gear and mount up for more spotlighting.
The first significant sighting of the night was a call for eyeshine in long grass near the base of a couple of full-size bushes (as opposed to the knee-high scrub over most of the landscape). It wouldn’t move into the open but careful observation established that it was a cat.
Twenty minutes later all of us including the cat were still in the same place and no additional information had come to light. We debussed in order to try some different angles of viewing, but this didn’t help. We decided between all of us to deploy Matt’s marathon fitness by getting him to make a wide circle round behind the cat and approach it from the rear. Hopefully if carried out carefully and sensitively this might bring it towards us and into the open.
To cut a long story short eventually we had the cat in the open and had established it was another African Wildcat. We got some pictures before it scooted off, and we decided to celebrate with a sandwich.
Once back on the road we had a few Jerboas and when stopped looking at one of these, Jake was hit by a moth that was flying straight at his torch. With remarkable presence of mind, hand-eye co-ordination and a little luck, he caught and controlled it, then called for a suitable receptacle to roost it in: the solution turned out to be someone’s glasses case, with the spring-loaded lid being closed very carefully. Before it was enclosed it had been found to be yet another Striped Hawk Moth, a species that was clearly migrating through the area in a major way.
A couple of Ruppell’s Foxes included another curled up one reluctant to move. Again I got a record shot, this time with the eyes flared rather more than on the last one. Another Fennec trotted slowly away giving us an OK view but again no picture.
Finally, when we were travelling more quickly with a feeling that the night’s excitement was over and remembering that we were travelling later in the morning, I finally found something myself – our last predator of the night, another Fennec Fox! It was about halfway up a slope of sandy, stony desert, right in the open, and actually finding it, on my side of the car, gave me the extra seconds to obtain my best view of the small fox with the big ears before it too turned round and loped off over the ridgeline. At last I’d proved to my own satisfaction that it was the animals’ fault and not mine.
A hare was pretty much the last animal of the night and we got home just after three to give ourselves the chance to get up and moving a bit earlier than we had been doing.
John
African Wildcat X 3
Moonlit Desert
Ruppell's Fox
Wednesday 2000 – Thursday 0315
We had a bit of a listen in the dusk for Golden Nightjar calls with a conspicuous lack of success. Then it was on with the cold-weather gear and mount up for more spotlighting.
The first significant sighting of the night was a call for eyeshine in long grass near the base of a couple of full-size bushes (as opposed to the knee-high scrub over most of the landscape). It wouldn’t move into the open but careful observation established that it was a cat.
Twenty minutes later all of us including the cat were still in the same place and no additional information had come to light. We debussed in order to try some different angles of viewing, but this didn’t help. We decided between all of us to deploy Matt’s marathon fitness by getting him to make a wide circle round behind the cat and approach it from the rear. Hopefully if carried out carefully and sensitively this might bring it towards us and into the open.
To cut a long story short eventually we had the cat in the open and had established it was another African Wildcat. We got some pictures before it scooted off, and we decided to celebrate with a sandwich.
Once back on the road we had a few Jerboas and when stopped looking at one of these, Jake was hit by a moth that was flying straight at his torch. With remarkable presence of mind, hand-eye co-ordination and a little luck, he caught and controlled it, then called for a suitable receptacle to roost it in: the solution turned out to be someone’s glasses case, with the spring-loaded lid being closed very carefully. Before it was enclosed it had been found to be yet another Striped Hawk Moth, a species that was clearly migrating through the area in a major way.
A couple of Ruppell’s Foxes included another curled up one reluctant to move. Again I got a record shot, this time with the eyes flared rather more than on the last one. Another Fennec trotted slowly away giving us an OK view but again no picture.
Finally, when we were travelling more quickly with a feeling that the night’s excitement was over and remembering that we were travelling later in the morning, I finally found something myself – our last predator of the night, another Fennec Fox! It was about halfway up a slope of sandy, stony desert, right in the open, and actually finding it, on my side of the car, gave me the extra seconds to obtain my best view of the small fox with the big ears before it too turned round and loped off over the ridgeline. At last I’d proved to my own satisfaction that it was the animals’ fault and not mine.
A hare was pretty much the last animal of the night and we got home just after three to give ourselves the chance to get up and moving a bit earlier than we had been doing.
John
African Wildcat X 3
Moonlit Desert
Ruppell's Fox
Attachments
Farnboro John
Well-known member
Thursday 1030 onwards
Once we woke up at 1030 (early!) our effort was to be directed towards clearing up and getting out, but first we had a moth to attend to. Outside the flat was a set of plant pots, with the plants rooted in sand – ideal for photographing our Striped Hawk Moth. It was duly cajoled from its roost in the glasses case onto one of the pots and we then all manoeuvred around and clambered up and down on pot rims, railings and whatever to get the angles we wanted.
Four lads are not exactly Snow White and a load of forest animals when it comes to cleaning up but some concerted effort resulted in a clean flat (several days coffee grounds in the sink proved hardest to get rid of) and with some difficulty we also put the three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle of all the bags into the car with just sufficient room for us, rations, water and birding gear in deployed mode. Quite an achievement.
Not wishing to contend with the traffic, markets and locals in Dakhla we set off up the peninsula to the kitesurfer camp, where we were convinced someone would have either a foot pump or with luck a compressor. On the way we had a bunch of Oystercatchers and a fly-over Osprey as well as the first Grey Heron of the week! Our luck was in because practically the first RV had a British registration and the inmate, a Scouse coming to the end of a three-month surfing sojourn, had a pump.
While Matt and Steve handled negotiations and exertions Jake and I strolled out onto the damp sand of the tidal flats to photograph the Greater Flamingos he had ticked earlier in the week, then pursued small bluish-tailed lizards to get pictures of them too. All too soon the car was fit to continue and we had to hop aboard after heartfelt thank-yous and a short chat with our new friend, who planned to drive back to get the ferry to Spain and then spend another month at Tarifa. Beats working for a living!.
We filled up at the garage at the top of the Aousserd road and then took the other route – the coastal highway North back towards Morocco. Our destination, Laayoune, was some five hundred or so kilometres away and we pretty much had to just drive and keep driving in order to reach the place at a sensible time in the evening. The drive was hampered only by a very few police posts (though one asked if we had any water as it was hot work in the sun, and then hung onto the bottle I offered him – git!) Most of them waved us through.
Birding highlights were few: Red-rumped, Black and Northern Wheatears, and a Barbary Falcon were the pick.
Even so it was approaching dark when we reached the town and finding the hotel wasn’t the easiest thing – the boys did well with phone maps and sort of guesswork and we made it. We parked out of the way but the hotel staff advised us to put the car right outside the door, which meant putting it in the middle of the side street, effectively double-parked against both sides and blocking it completely!
The rooms were nice though hot, and having discovered that though the hotel and local cafes didn’t have beer a big hotel in the centre of town did, we were fairly quickly assembled outside negotiating a double load in a Fiat Panda “Petit Taxi” that was only supposed to take two. When we got in, we noticed that the windscreen was fragmented from a heavy impact top centre (it wasn’t obvious why it was staying in), the car smelt more or less of dead camel and was long past its best. The driver however handled it with aplomb and dropped us right outside the fairly up-market hotel. We obtained directions to the bar from the doorman and there followed a scene straight out of Ice Cold in Alex, with four right arms tilting bottles up, a long pull and then set down to a chorus of expelled, gratified “Ahhhhhhhhhs” as chilled lagers slid down four relieved throats.
The first one disappeared really quite quickly and was followed in much more leisurely fashion by one or two more. Eventually we decided we should really go and find something to eat, paid the bill and wandered along the street till we found a café that was still serving – tacos, pizzas and burgers. Tacos all round and some chips filled a considerable hole and then we had to get back to the hotel.
This proved slightly more difficult than getting into town as all the taxi drivers were insistent that they were licensed for only two passengers. After a while we hit on the wheeze of stopping two taxis, but while the first one recognised the address of the hotel, the second one didn’t and our efforts to describe its location met with bafflement. However, my French language muscle had responded to the week by recovering from its totally atrophied state and eventually I suggested with more confidence than I felt, “Suivez-vous cette Taxi” – pointing to the first one we’d hailed, into which Steve and Matt were climbing. Our taxi driver had his wife with him in the front and she was a bit smarter than him (I reckon), so this suggestion was met with a nod and a fast rattle of Arabic, more nods from the driver and as soon as we were in, we were off. Follow that cab….. I’ve always wanted to say that.
In no time we were home safe and soon asleep in comfortable beds.
John
Striped Hawk Moth
Residence Sahel
Greater Flamingo
Lizard X 2
Once we woke up at 1030 (early!) our effort was to be directed towards clearing up and getting out, but first we had a moth to attend to. Outside the flat was a set of plant pots, with the plants rooted in sand – ideal for photographing our Striped Hawk Moth. It was duly cajoled from its roost in the glasses case onto one of the pots and we then all manoeuvred around and clambered up and down on pot rims, railings and whatever to get the angles we wanted.
Four lads are not exactly Snow White and a load of forest animals when it comes to cleaning up but some concerted effort resulted in a clean flat (several days coffee grounds in the sink proved hardest to get rid of) and with some difficulty we also put the three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle of all the bags into the car with just sufficient room for us, rations, water and birding gear in deployed mode. Quite an achievement.
Not wishing to contend with the traffic, markets and locals in Dakhla we set off up the peninsula to the kitesurfer camp, where we were convinced someone would have either a foot pump or with luck a compressor. On the way we had a bunch of Oystercatchers and a fly-over Osprey as well as the first Grey Heron of the week! Our luck was in because practically the first RV had a British registration and the inmate, a Scouse coming to the end of a three-month surfing sojourn, had a pump.
While Matt and Steve handled negotiations and exertions Jake and I strolled out onto the damp sand of the tidal flats to photograph the Greater Flamingos he had ticked earlier in the week, then pursued small bluish-tailed lizards to get pictures of them too. All too soon the car was fit to continue and we had to hop aboard after heartfelt thank-yous and a short chat with our new friend, who planned to drive back to get the ferry to Spain and then spend another month at Tarifa. Beats working for a living!.
We filled up at the garage at the top of the Aousserd road and then took the other route – the coastal highway North back towards Morocco. Our destination, Laayoune, was some five hundred or so kilometres away and we pretty much had to just drive and keep driving in order to reach the place at a sensible time in the evening. The drive was hampered only by a very few police posts (though one asked if we had any water as it was hot work in the sun, and then hung onto the bottle I offered him – git!) Most of them waved us through.
Birding highlights were few: Red-rumped, Black and Northern Wheatears, and a Barbary Falcon were the pick.
Even so it was approaching dark when we reached the town and finding the hotel wasn’t the easiest thing – the boys did well with phone maps and sort of guesswork and we made it. We parked out of the way but the hotel staff advised us to put the car right outside the door, which meant putting it in the middle of the side street, effectively double-parked against both sides and blocking it completely!
The rooms were nice though hot, and having discovered that though the hotel and local cafes didn’t have beer a big hotel in the centre of town did, we were fairly quickly assembled outside negotiating a double load in a Fiat Panda “Petit Taxi” that was only supposed to take two. When we got in, we noticed that the windscreen was fragmented from a heavy impact top centre (it wasn’t obvious why it was staying in), the car smelt more or less of dead camel and was long past its best. The driver however handled it with aplomb and dropped us right outside the fairly up-market hotel. We obtained directions to the bar from the doorman and there followed a scene straight out of Ice Cold in Alex, with four right arms tilting bottles up, a long pull and then set down to a chorus of expelled, gratified “Ahhhhhhhhhs” as chilled lagers slid down four relieved throats.
The first one disappeared really quite quickly and was followed in much more leisurely fashion by one or two more. Eventually we decided we should really go and find something to eat, paid the bill and wandered along the street till we found a café that was still serving – tacos, pizzas and burgers. Tacos all round and some chips filled a considerable hole and then we had to get back to the hotel.
This proved slightly more difficult than getting into town as all the taxi drivers were insistent that they were licensed for only two passengers. After a while we hit on the wheeze of stopping two taxis, but while the first one recognised the address of the hotel, the second one didn’t and our efforts to describe its location met with bafflement. However, my French language muscle had responded to the week by recovering from its totally atrophied state and eventually I suggested with more confidence than I felt, “Suivez-vous cette Taxi” – pointing to the first one we’d hailed, into which Steve and Matt were climbing. Our taxi driver had his wife with him in the front and she was a bit smarter than him (I reckon), so this suggestion was met with a nod and a fast rattle of Arabic, more nods from the driver and as soon as we were in, we were off. Follow that cab….. I’ve always wanted to say that.
In no time we were home safe and soon asleep in comfortable beds.
John
Striped Hawk Moth
Residence Sahel
Greater Flamingo
Lizard X 2
Attachments
RafaelMatias
Unknown member
Not sure you got an ID for your lizards yet. They're Acanthodactylus sp.
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