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Morocco: 9th - 17th March 2017 (1 Viewer)

dwatsonbirder

Well-known member
Participants: Daniel Watson, John Friendship-Taylor, Gareth Blockley

Introduction

Positioned in the south-west corner of the Western Palearctic, Morocco has been a popular destination for birders for many years. It offers a wide selection of habitats, as well as opportunities to encounter regional endemics with relative ease.

The aim of our trip was to catch up with some of the desert specialists, as well as enjoying some general birding in the mountains. Both Gareth and I had visited the country previously, but on both occasions, the opportunities for birding were somewhat limited. We saw a total of 137 species (a fairly respectable total for an independent trip), and only missed out on one of our main target birds - Pharaoh Eagle owl.

Logistics and general information

Morocco is a well visited country, and there is a wealth of information for general tourism as well as specifically for birding. Return flights from Stansted to Marrakech cost approximately £135 each with Ryanair (perhaps my least favorite airline), whilst a hire car for the length of the trip cost approximately £200. Hotels were booked on booking.com, and cost a total of £82 including breakfast. We also spent about £100 on food/miscellaneous and £90 on petrol. The total cost each was under £350, which makes Morocco an attractive option for a cheap trip.

Our hire car was a Dacia Logan; for 3 people it was perfectly comfortable, and it coped admirably with both mountain passes, main roads and unpathed stony desert, i.e. pretty much everything you could throw at it with the exception of sandy desert. We didn’t find a 4x4 necessary for desert birding (around Merzouga for example).

In order to navigate, we used the maps.me app, which I cannot recommend highly enough for off-line navigation, and also can navigate to coordinates, which is very useful for a lot of sites. Information for birding sites can be gleaned off of various trip reports, though another useful addition is the now slightly outdated Dave Gosney guide, which still contains some good information.

Itinerary

Marrakech - Oukaimeden - Ouarzazate - Boumalne Dades - Rissani - Merzouga - Zagora - Ouarzazate - Marrakech

Day 1

After an early morning flight from Stansted, we arrived in Marrakesh at approximately 10am, with the first bird of the trip seen before we’d even left the airport; a House bunting was calling and flying around above the security gates in the arrivals lounge! Once outside, we added Common bulbul, White wagtail and Spotless starling to the list whilst waiting to collect the hire car. Soon enough, we departed the airport, and began the drive south towards the Atlas mountains, with our aim of reaching Oukaimeden sometime in the afternoon.

Just outside of Marrakech, we decided to stop at an area of waste ground to look for some commoner species; Great grey shrike, Crested lark, Moroccan magpie and Hoopoe were all quickly noted, whilst overhead, various hirundines and swifts were grilled, as we picked out a couple of Red-rumped swallow as well as a few Little and Pallid swift. There were also a couple of raptors soaring, with a couple of Booted eagle (a pale phase and intermediate phase respectively) and a distant Short-toed eagle also noted - not a bad start.

Just after lunch we checked into our hotel in Ourika, and following some much needed food we began our ascent to Oukaimeden. We noted a few new birds as we climbed, with Black redstart, Black wheatear, African chaffinch and Ultramarine tit all noted, whilst a stop a few kilometres from our destination brought a calling Western Subalpine warbler and a pair of smart Rock bunting.

Finally, we arrived at the ski-lift car park at Oukaimeden (approximately 31°11'43.5"N 7°51'20.5"W) around 3pm, passing a large group of Chough. Our primary target birds here were Crimson winged finch and Atlas lark, though we also hoped that we may catch up with a few other higher altitude species. Within moments of getting out of the car we had located a group of 20+ Crimson winged finches feeding on a slope opposite where we were standing. After a little while the group flew towards us and fed on scraps left over from tourists and traders. We walked along the valley a little way past the ski-lift towards the obvious house with a few trees in the garden (approximately 31°11'56.0"N 7°51'32.6"W). Here we observed a smart group of African chaffinch, whilst we also picked out a few Rock sparrow - a bonus if somewhat expected bird. The abandoned village higher up from this point (approximately 31°11'49.3"N 7°51'22.5"W) held a surprise Little owl - I hadn’t been aware they could occur at such altitudes. We returned to watch the Crimson winged finches and picked out another of our target birds - Atlas Shore lark.
After we had enjoyed these birds for a while, we headed back down the mountain to our base in Ourika, for a relatively early night, ready for an early start to return back into the mountains the following morning. It had been a good start to the trip, and with two of our main target birds in the bag, we were in high spirits and ready to enjoy some excellent birding over the next week or so.
 
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What taxonomy are you following? Interesting mix of common names but surely Great Grey Shrike should be Southern whichever you use, shouldn't it?

Steve
 
Day 2

Our plan of action for the day was to head back up to Oukaimeden before continuing south to Ouarzazate. We decided to take a bit of time in order to target a few more species on the lower slopes, but before leaving, we wanted to spend a little time birding around the hotel to look for migrants. There were the now familiar calls of Common bulbul and House bunting joining the dawn chorus of Blackbirds, Chaffinch, Cetti’s warblers and Chiffchaff, and soon enough we heard another target bird; Levaillant's Woodpecker. I’d seen this species on my previous trip to Morocco, but had only managed distant scope views, so I was happy to enjoy much better, albeit brief views of a bird as it called atop some spruce trees. It appears this species is rather well distributed in the right habitat, but there were perhaps two birds calling in the valley where we stayed in Ourika (approximately 31°22'18.0"N 7°46'35.1"W). Also of note in the general area were several calling Palm dove, a species which I hadn’t previously encountered on the northern side of the Atlas.

After breakfast, we once again began the descent up into the mountains, making a couple of stops as we climbed. The first brought us a smart Greater spotted woodpecker of the race mauritanus (Red colouration on the breast and darker on the underparts), along with the usual Black redstarts, Bulbuls and Chiffchaffs. A stop at an area which had previously been good for Levaillant's woodpecker drew a blank, so we continued higher. The next area looked quite promising, (approximately 31°14'15.6"N 7°49'05.8"W) and we quickly located more Rock bunting along with Black wheatear within the general vicinity. John wandered off down one of the slopes, and he called over to us - he’d just located the first Moussier’s redstart of the trip. We all enjoyed views of a cracking male down to just 3m, and both John and Gareth we elated, as this was a top target for them. Over the other side of the road, we worked an area of Marquis scrub, where we encountered a few Western Subalpine warblers, along with the first Sardinian warblers of the trip.

By this time we had noticed a steady flow of cars heading up to the summit, and after 3 full bus loads of people passed us, we decided that it would likely be too busy at the summit, and that the best option would be to continue south. We cut back across from Ourika to the R210 via the P2010, and we were rewarded with a migrating flock of Lesser Kestrel north-east of Ait Ourir. We pulled over to enjoy as the group of 7 birds hunted insects over farmland. The general area also held Barbary partridge and Corn bunting. Our journey over the Titka n Tiza pass was relatively uneventful, but sadly random stops at likely areas for Alpine chough and Seebohm’s wheatear drew blanks for both species.

Our final port of call for the day was to the south of Amerzgane where we had read about a good spot for Magreb wheatear (location withheld by request, but check suitable areas along the P1505). We pulled over onto the site of the road, with John and I working a dry wadi to the west of the road, whilst Gareth checked an elevated area to the east. John and I located the first Desert lark and Desert wheatear of the trip, when a shout went up from Gareth. We hurried over to him as quickly as possible given the terrain but frustratingly we only managed brief views of a pair of Magreb wheatear before they flicked away and into a ravine not to be seen again. This was really disappointing as this was a major personal target, and despite searching the area thoroughly, we had to admit defeat as dusk closed in. We managed brief views of White crowned Black wheatear, Blue rock thrush and Trumpeter finch as we searched the area, but as pleasant as these birds were to see, we couldn’t help but feel down about the brevity of the encounter.

We headed to our accommodation in Ouarzazate, and made plans to be back at the site first thing the following morning, and we were not to be disappointed…
 
What taxonomy are you following? Interesting mix of common names but surely Great Grey Shrike should be Southern whichever you use, shouldn't it?

Steve

No, Great Grey Shrike is correct. Southern Grey Shrike only exists as Iberian Grey Shrike, all others are subspecies of Great Grey Shrike
See this study
At least this is how HBW Alive and perhaps more importantly the Collins Guide treat it. I think other taxonomies will soon follow

Maffong
 
No, Great Grey Shrike is correct. Southern Grey Shrike only exists as Iberian Grey Shrike, all others are subspecies of Great Grey Shrike
See this study
At least this is how HBW Alive and perhaps more importantly the Collins Guide treat it. I think other taxonomies will soon follow

Maffong

That was my understanding also; either way, we observed both algeriensis and elegans.
 
No, Great Grey Shrike is correct. Southern Grey Shrike only exists as Iberian Grey Shrike, all others are subspecies of Great Grey Shrike
At least this is how HBW Alive and perhaps more importantly the Collins Guide treat it. I think other taxonomies will soon follow

Maffong

I have just checked the HBW Alive account for Iberian Grey Shrike and it is a confused mess. It has a map just showing Iberia but includes all the north African races that are/were Southern Grey Shrike as well as what is/was Steppe Grey Shrike.
I tend to pay little attention to HBW taxonomy until it is endorsed by other authorities.

Steve
 
This is a result of the very recent splitting process on HBW Alive. Quite a few accounts have the problems, that their texts were not well adjusted after this. Nevertheless, this is also how the species is currently treated by the Collins Guide. Not very surprising, if you consider Lars Svensson was one of the authors of the study I linked above, that finds that Iberian Grey Shrike is very distinct from the other taxa.

Regardless of this, I'd love to hear more about your trip, Daniel!
 
Thanks for the interesting discussion on the GGS complex chaps, I must admit that some of the birds we saw did look superficially similar to "Iberian/Southern" Grey shrikes that I've seen in Spain previously. I suspect that there will be a few more "splits" in the future in Morocco, with the striking appearance and distinctive vocalisations of the "Atlas" Coal tit certainly notable, along with Great spotted woodpecker and Crested lark both of which have distinctive plumage features. More on that on a future thread perhaps?

On a side note, unfortunately I did not take a camera with me, so for some images it is best to see John's excellent flickr page where he has put up a few photos already.

Back to the trip!

Day 3

So it was that we found ourselves heading back towards the same patch of desert just after dawn on the third day.

Before we headed to the area for the Maghreb wheatears, we decided on a brief stop in an area of farmland on the edge of Amerzgane. Serin and a single Hoopoe were noted immediately upon leaving the car, whilst careful checking of the cultivated areas revealed several migrants feeding up; Western subalpine warblers and chiffchaffs, a couple more Hoopoe and a smart Woodchat shrike showed well, whilst John flushed a Grasshopper warbler from a grassy drain. Here we also found more Black redstart, and our first Thekla lark of the trip.

After a good 30 minutes of enjoyable birding, and with the day beginning to warm up, we moved onto our target for the morning.

We headed up the slope to the area where the excitement had occurred the previous day with pensive anticipation. We checked the general area after drawing a blank in the original gulley, but after 40 minutes of searching we had drawn a blank. Were yesterday's birds a transient pair on their way to one of the other rocky mounds? I headed to a slope which was in full sun at this early hour, and scanned the area carefully with the scope. I was about to pack up when I noticed a shadow of movement behind a rock, I focused on the spot and waited. After a moment, a monochrome bird flicked up and into view; a cracking male Maghreb wheatear! I have to admit I enjoyed the bird in solitude for a minute before I called to the others, but it was soon high fives all-round as we spent a good half an hour watching both the male and female feeding and the male singing.

We followed the road further south to a small wadi (approximately 31°00'13.5"N 7°13'49.1"W) that we had driven past the previous evening, and given that there was water present, we thought it would be worth a check. A single acacia and palm tree held no less than 3 Western Subalpine warblers, whilst a couple of Black-bellied sandgrouse flew overhead. We decided to walk through some dense grasses to see if there were any more migrants present, but with the exception of a female Northern wheatear there was little present. On the other side of the wadi, John called that he a small sylvia warbler. We headed over and I was elated to see that the bird was a Spectacled warbler - a massive bogey bird of mine, and one which I had waited over 2 decades to see!

After this brief stop, we continued again further south, stoping at another wadi (30°58'44.7"N 7°13'05.8"W) which was so full of birds, it was unanimously one of the highlights of the trip. Straight out of the car, there were a few hirundines overhead, including several Red-rumped swallow and Crag martin, whilst a passerine flicking onto the floor from a low bush revealed itself to be a fine male Moussier’s redstart. Somewhere above us a Tree pipit buzzed. There were a few Blackcap and Chiffchaff in the trees, with a few Spanish sparrow flying over before alighting in a date palm. In the river valley itself was a party of 17 Little ringed plover, joined by a single Green sandpiper and White, Grey and “Iberian” Yellow wagtail. Several passerines lurked amongst the overhanging bushes, including Sedge warbler, a few Nightingale, and best of all, 4 cracking Bluethroat. There was so much activity in this area it was difficult to know where to look, but due to our packed schedule we didn’t have enough time to properly explore the area, so this would have to wait for another day.

By this time we had built up an appetite, so we made our way back to the hotel for breakfast, but not before clocking a female Black winged stilt feeding in the main river channel in Ouarzazate.

We opted to spend a little time birding from the roof after we’d eaten, and we were rewarded with more birds; further Western Subalpine warbler and Tree pipits, Long legged buzzard, a showy Little owl and a couple of Little swift were all noted.

From here we would be heading to our next accomodation at Boumalne Dades, taking in some desert areas along the way, and putting us in the perfect spot for an early morning visit to the famous “Tagdilt track”. Our first port of call was the Barrage el Mansour, and more specifically the area where the river delta meets the lake. This area quickly developed the well earned nickname of “poo river” due to the rather intoxicating aroma of excrement. This area has a reputation for some fine birding, but sadly our visit was cut short as a result of the overwhelming stench. We managed to see a group of 21 Little ringed plover, a dozen “Iberian” Yellow wagtail, a small group of Short toed lark and at least 2 Hoopoe before we beat a retreat.

Our next stop was the water treatment works on the edge of town, which was thankfully less pungent than the lake had been. This site can be really good in winter, attracting wildfowl and waders, but it was also a bit underwhelming with Ruddy shelduck, Coot, Mallard and a single Marsh harrier the only birds of note.

We continued east to another area on the shores of the Barrage el Mansour (approximately 30°57'47.0"N 6°45'28.0"W) which proved to be a better area for general birding. Here were a few waders, with further Little ringed and Kentish plover, as well as a single Redshank. A highlight here was a migrant Short-toed eagle, that passed low overhead, allowing good photographic opportunities for John.

Along our journey east, I picked out a pale raptor gliding head-on towards the car, and Gareth performed a perfect emergency stop. We were rewarded with cracking views of an adult Lanner as it glided effortlessly over the car, before suddenly beating its wings and speeding off into the distance. This was another species which I had hoped we would bump into, and it was fantastic to have enjoyed such a serendipitous sighting of this elegant falcon.

Our penultimate stop of the day wasn’t planned, but we noticed a large kettle of Black kite from the main road, so we pulled off and soon found ourselves driving into a refuse area (31°18’52.9”N 6°23’55.99W). Although not the most scenic area we had visited, the spectacle of some 30+ Black kites circling overhead was worth the detour. We also clocked another 2 Short-toed eagle making their rather languid advances northwards, and there was a showy pair of Desert wheatear to keep us entertained also, but the best was yet to come. As we drove out of the rubbish dump and back to the main road, Gareth picked up a passerine in flight that dropped down to our left. I clocked the bird in my binoculars, and was astonished to see a smart Thick-billed lark! This was fantastic! We watched the bird for a matter of 10 seconds before it flicked off further to our left. John and I jumped out of the car and raced towards the area where we had last seen it, but despite extensive searching, we were unable to relocate this cracking bird. This was to be particularly disappointing, as we did not see another individual for the duration on the trip.

Our final stop was at dusk on the Ikniouen road, where we had hoped to jam in on some sandgrouse at the “drinking pools”. Unfortunately the pools held no water, and as a result we did not hear any sandgrouse on our twilight vigil. A couple of Red rumped wheatear were noted in the general area, but the dying light of the day wasn’t really doing these smart chats their full justice. We headed back to our accommodation after a brilliant days birding, and were rewarded with a vocal Scops owl whilst eating dinner.

Tomorrow would be yet another early start, and I had talked the Tagdilt track up to the guys, I hoped that my aspirations for this famous birding site would be realised the following morning...
 
Excellent report and beautiful photos in the flickr page as well. By the way, the photographed tortoise is a spur-thighed tortoise (Testudo graeca), the only terrestrial species in Morocco (two other species are aquatic).

Sometimes it’s just impossible not to not talk about the taxonomy. I don’t know if you have noticed this, but I have seen it a few times.

- Some distinctive subspecies have had their own common names well before the split from the ‘parent’ species (and sometimes the split may take decades to be recognised). Examples include Maghreb Magpie, Atlas Horned Lark (not shore lark please!), Moroccan Wagtail, Maghreb Wheatear, African Chaffinch...etc. This is a good thing whatever the status of these birds.

- Some species were not 'fortunate' to have their own common names when they were treated as subspecies, so when they were split (and universally adopted) some people still forget that they are now full species. Examples include African Desert Warbler (I know that it’s a mainstream name now, but I head at least once people describe the birds breeding in Morocco as Sylvia nana when the species was already split), and African Crimson-winged Finch which is also split years ago (by the IOC in 2011, others followed later).
 
Thanks for the kind comments so far. I'll try to write and post some more over the coming days, but currently in the midst of moving house and starting a new job, so the trip report may have to take a back seat for a little while. For those that haven't had a look, John's photos give a sneak peek at some of the highlights later in the trip.
 
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Day 4

Once again, we were up before dawn, this time in search of Sandgrouse. We’d read about some pools along the “new Tagdilt track” in Gosney, but sadly it appeared that these were not holding any water this year. Our early morning vigil was on the whole unsuccessful with no sandgrouse over the course of the 2-3hrs we spent in the area, though we did enjoy fine views of both Red-rumped and Desert wheatear.
One of the surprise birds of the trip was a male Hen harrier which suddenly appeared next to the car, circled briefly gaining height before heading northwards, a species which appears to be uncommon this far south. There were a few other birds moving this morning, with several small groups of Short-toed lark giving their raspy calls, whilst we saw no less than 4 Short-toed eagle before midday.
We headed to the small agricultural area south along the road in order to look for migrants. It was considerably quieter than other spots we had checked, with just a few Spanish sparrow, Blackcap 4 Meadow and a single Tree pipit.

We decided that it was time for us to head onto the Tagdilt track proper as it was fast approaching lunchtime. We enjoyed some great views of the “classic” species at this site; Temminck’s and Hoopoe larks, and further Desert and Red-rumped wheatears. We had fly over views of Trumpeter finch, Black bellied sandgrouse and Cream coloured courser, but views of the latter species were somewhat disapprovingly distant. As we entered the rubbish dump along the Tagdilt track, we were somewhat shocked to find the area devoid of any birds. It seems from reading trip reports that this area can be great in winter with large numbers of birds foraging amongst the waste, so it is possible that the timing on our part was a little late for these gatherings. It was just as well that we’d bumped into a Thick-billed lark the previous day!

We headed back to the hotel for a very late breakfast, and enjoyed good views of Crag martin as they fed over the gorge. We had planned to drive further up into the area to look for Bonelli’s eagle, but we were a bit concerned about the long drive to Rissani and decided to bird along the way instead.

We stopped at a likely looking area for Pharaoh Eagle owl, which didn’t produce the hoped-for Bubo. After a while of scanning the cliffs, we were rewarded with a territorial pair of Lanner which were flying constantly up to a ledge high on a cliff just out of sight. Due to the potential interest from falconers, the location for this site has been withheld, but with luck one stands a reasonable chance of encountering this species in the area.

Continuing east along the N10, we noticed a promising looking wadi (31°44'10.9"N 4°52'39.7"W) just east of Goulmima. This proved to be a great spot, with the first species noted out of the car being a party of 9+ Fulvous babbler! Gareth and John went off to obtain better views, but I headed to some lower vegetation to see what else was around. There were several Desert and White crowned black wheatears, Great grey shrike and a few Short-toed lark in the area, along with a female Northern wheatear. The babblers then moved to the north side of the road, and we followed them. Unfortunately, the birds moved further along the wadi and were rather uncooperative, so rather than chase after them, we decided to spread out a bit and explore. We logged the first Bar tailed lark of the trip, with a pair creeping around the low bushes in a rather mouse-like manner. John was photographing a showy pair of Desert wheatear when I noticed another bird slightly further back – a cracking male Western Black-eared wheatear. We headed back towards the car before one final welcome appearance – another Spectacled warbler appeared in the same bush as the Black-eared wheatear.

Driving further east, our next stop was to try for Scrub warbler, at another site mentioned in Gosney. We couldn’t see any likely looking habitat at the coordinates we’d been provided with, so instead we tried an around south of the N10 (31°48'12.9"N 4°41'28.1"W). John and I headed someway south from the road and along a wadi, but other than a single Woodchat shrike, we hadn’t seen a single thing. We began walking back towards the car when Gareth started waving frantically in the distance. We headed over as quickly as we could, seeing that Gareth had taken his camera out, it was a sure sign that something was showing well indeed! As we approached a pair of Scrub warbler were hopping around in a very unusual manner just a few feet away. Behaviourally and to some degree in appearance, these birds were more akin to a Prinia than a warbler, but either way they showed exceptionally well, and we enjoyed their endearing character.

A final stop before reaching Rissani resulted in further views of Bar-tailed, Hoopoe and Short-toed lark, as well as a bird which showed characteristics of “Magreb lark” i.e. a very long billed Crested lark (I’ll post a link once John has prepped some images as I would be interested in opinions on this individual).
After a very long day of driving we arrived in Rissani after dark, and planned an early night in anticipation for another day of desert birding.
 
Day 5

After a slightly later than anticipated start, we left Rissani mid-morning to look (albeit optimistically) for migrants, and specifically Saharan Olivaceous warbler in the nearby Oued Ziz bed. There was little water present save for an irrigation channel. It took a little while, but we finally managed to locate a few migrants in the trees along the wadi, with the best being 2 calling Bonelli’s warblers and a probable Iberian Chiffchaff. Commoner migrants present in small numbers included Hoopoe, Chiffchaff and Western subalpine warbler, whilst a damp area attracted Moroccan wagtail, Palm dove and a Green sandpiper. Despite extensive searching, we were unable to locate any hippolais warblers, and it seems likely that we were a week or so early.

From here we headed in the general direction of Erg Chebbi, with a look in at any promising areas along the way. Once we hit the stony desert, we clocked a corvid flapping lazily alongside the car. A quick pull over and check, and the bird proved to be a subtle Brown-necked raven. The slightly more slender wings, and curious drooping head habit are good pointers for this tricky species in flight, as the bronze tones to the neck and relation of the PP to the tail point are not always easy to see.

We turned off of the N13 and drove “off-piste” towards the R702 towards the famous Cafe Yasmina. Along the way, we stopped at a good vegetated wadi (approximately 31°14'28.4"N 4°04'59.1"W) opposite the “Cafe Yasmina 9km” sign. This area is very good for Desert warbler, and with a little searching, we came up with the goods, in the form of a singing bird. This area also held further Bar-tailed and Hoopoe larks as well as Desert wheatear, and probably warrants further exploration.

It is worth noting that Desert sparrow has been driven out of the environs around Erg Chebbi by the increasing House sparrow population, and now can only be reliably found within the dune complex itself. We spent a good hour or so checking all of the buildings where there were aggregations of sparrows during the afternoon, but drew a blank for Desert sparrow. After a late lunch at Cafe Yasmina, we received a tip-off from one of the berbers who works there, and we decided that we would try for the Desert sparrows in the cool of the morning - it was now 5pm and a rather hot 32° - rather than risk wandering into the dunes with limited supplies.

We birded the area around the tamarisks, which are good for migrants and form part of the study area for a ringing group (www.yasminaprimavera.wordpress.com) and sure enough there were birds here; Iberian and Common chiffchaff, Western Subalpine and Bonelli’s warblers, Common redstart, a couple of Hoopoe and a Woodchat shrike. It was great to see these birds in this landscape, and it really hit home the ordeal that every single migrant undertakes just to return to breed - and it certainly makes you appreciate that first Willow warbler of the year so much more!

The ephemeral lake near to Erg Chebbi has not held water for the last 6 years according to a berber we spoke with, so we didn’t really see many more birds other than those in the tamarisks, though a bizarre sighting was a party of 5 Ruddy shelduck pitching down onto the sand within the vicinity.

By the time we had worked the tamarisks it was getting on, so we headed for Lac Dayet Srij (also has been dry for at least 3 years) in the hope of some water birds. Our gen was rather outdated, so we arrived to a large sandy depression with a complete lack of water. Not to worry, surely there would be birds in the scrub?
The first patch we checked (approximately 31°05'54.4"N 4°02'44.9"W) proved to be very decent indeed, with flyover Black bellied sandgrouse, Bar-tailed and further possible “Maghreb” lark, and best of all, another bonus Desert warbler flicking about in the low vegetation. We then drove across the lake to the noticeably taller area of tamarisk scrub (approximately 31°04'56.7"N 4°02'50.3"W) where we located a fine female Tristram’s warbler after some searching. There were also a few Subalpine warbler present, so exercise some caution. Other birds seen here included a normal-looking Crested lark, Hoopoe, Woodchat shrike and a fly-over Cream coloured courser.

After checking into our hotel in Merzouga, we headed back out in the twilight with one final target for the day. We headed for the Egyptian nightjar site mentioned in Gosney, and after about 30 minutes, we heard one bird give a short burst of song. We waited for another 30-40 minutes, but there was no further call heard. It's likely that the birds may sing later on, but as we wanted to be back at Cafe Yasmina at 5am the following morning, we decided to call it a day.
 
Day 6

We arrived at Cafe Yasmina a little after half 5, and after stocking up with a couple of litres of water each, we headed out into the dunes before the sun had appeared over the horizon. We had basically been informed to keep the large dune on our left, and head towards the desert camps within Erg Chebbi, and with these rather vague directions, we set off. There was little in the way of bird life until we were about 40 mins into the dune system, when a small passerine flicked over the brow of a dune and landed some 20 metres away foraging amongst some camel dung - a cracking male Desert sparrow! This was a massive relief for us, as this was one target that we didn’t want to miss. We continued on for another 10 or 15 minutes until we reached a camp, with a few palm trees nearby. Here we located a pair of Desert sparrow constructing a nest. We spent the next hour or so watching both male and female coming and going. There were a few Collared dove in the general vicinity, and we heard a sylvia warbler singing from some small bushes - we didn’t follow this up, but the ringing group informed us that there had been a Tristram’s warbler present in the same area for a few days.
We made it back to Cafe Yasmina around 9am, and after a quick check of the Tamarisks (similar suite of species as the previous day but a noticeable increase in the number of Subalpine warblers) we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast.
We’d had a chat with the guys manning the ringing station, and they were kind enough to bring a few birds over to us whilst we ate - Woodchat shrike, Bonelli’s and Subalpine warblers - absolutely fantastic stuff to see at such close quarters, and made all the better with the addition of crepes and coffee!

Our next destination was Zagora, some 300km to the south west of our present location. Much of the rest of the day was spent driving, but we made a few stops, with our primary target being Pharaoh eagle owl. Sadly we didn’t manage to catch up with this species (we forgot to check a few sites whilst we were in Rissani!) but we had good views of Desert lark, Trumpeter finch, Desert wheatear and Brown necked raven, and also stumbled across a slope with a multitude of fossils, where we spent a good 30 minutes looking for interesting specimens.

We made a few more stops as we neared Zagora, but did not encounter very much more of interest. One area that we didn’t stop at was near to an Oryx conservation refuge, which was a shame as the habitat looked very much like one would expect in sub-Saharan africa, and would certainly be worth a few hours of exploration for the less time constrained intrepid birder.

We arrived in Zagora around 5pm, and spent an hour looking for birds along the river Draa, with the usual mixture of warblers, wagtails and Little ringed plovers present. We headed to an area to the south of the town with Blue-cheeked bee-eater in mind, but sadly we were unable to locate this species. Of consolation was a group of some 30+ European bee-eater, which performed very well, and we observed the birds until dusk. We enjoyed a good dinner at our accommodation (along with a bottle of red wine!) before turning in for the night.

Although we had enjoyed our morning with the Desert sparrows, we were feeling a bit deflated due to the long drive and few options for birding. There are a few options for birding along this area, but to be honest, we found it underwhelming in comparison to the northern route between Ouarzazate and Merzouga, and in hindsight it would likely have been more productive to head back the way we had already travelled. Nonetheless, this was the route we had chosen, and tomorrow we would be heading back to Ouarzazate.

Day 7

After a good nights sleep, we began our journey north and west towards Ouarzazate. Our route took us along the Draa valley, where we made frequent stops to look for Blue cheeked bee-eater and other migrants feeding in the river valley. The most productive stop we made was near to Tamnougalt where some cultivated land next to the river was alive with birds; Several Yellow wagtails of three races, 2-3 Tawny pipits, Wheatear, Little ringed plover, Common sandpiper and many Chiffchaff were feeding both along the river edge and within the fields themselves, often following some farmers who were planting seeds and watering the area. Overhead were a few Red rumped and Barn swallow, whilst John and I noticed an interesting martin that whizzed by. Unfortunately we didn't see much on it, but we had both suspected Brown throated martin, based on the apparent lack of pale throat and squared tail. Sadly the bird only did two brief flyby whilst we were in the area, and wasn't seen subsequently. Many of the other birds allowed a very close approach, and it was a very enjoyable stop along our route. A few kilometres south-east of Ouarzazate we made a stop within a mountainous pass at the regular Rock martin colony (approximately N30.71093 W06.589306) where we observed a smaller number of these birds, the colony not as well populated as many others had noted, with some 5 or so birds in the area, as this is a species I’d seen on numerous occasions in sub-Saharan Africa I spent a little time looking around the general area and located Blue rock thrush and Desert lark.

Our next stop was to be the treatment works at Ouarzazate (having decided to give “poo river” a miss) and the area contained much the same mix of species as on the previous visit. We stopped along the northern edge of the area to scope a young Long legged buzzard, and whilst watching this, we noted that the cultivated area below us was alive with migrants. There were plenty of Yellow wagtail in the area, along with chiffchaff, Bluethroat, Woodchat shrike, Hoopoe and Western Subalpine warblers. Although this mixture of species seemed to be common at most stops, we spent a pleasant 30 mins or so enjoying the birds feeding in the sun.
As the afternoon wore on, we retraced our route east along the N10 towards the Barrage el Mansour where we made a few stops to look for any birds attracted to the water. By far the most productive area was at the eastern end (approximately 30°57'54.9"N 6°43'17.8"W) where there was a good amount of shoreline and a sandbar. We noticed some 12+ Green sandpiper and 20+ LRP as well as a few Ruddy shelduck as we walked along the shore, but there were plenty of other birds here. Waterbirds included Great and Little egret, Ruff, Redshank, Greenshank, Teal, Shoveler and a couple of Lesser black backed gulls. A party of terns next to the gulls proved to be Gull billed, whilst mixed in with the other wildfowl were at least 3 Marbled teal - another good lifer for both John and Gareth.
Whilst we were enjoying the mixture of species, something spooked the terns and gulls, and flopped down onto the edge of the shore - an Osprey. This bird must have literally arrived from over the desert, as it went straight to the water and bathed, before spending a good 10 minutes drinking - very cool to see. Incredibly, a second Osprey flew over, doing a quick loop before continuing northwards. Once the birds had settled back onto the sandbar, I noticed a smaller almost hirrundine like bird perch up - a fine Collared pratincole, whilst a small party of Avocet had materialised and were swimming in slightly deeper water.

By this time it was starting to get late, and we headed for our accommodation on the western side of Ouarzazate, but not before one final treat. We stopped to check the river (30°55'26.7"N 6°59'23.6"W) when a cracking Lanner flew so low overhead, that John heard the wings beating. It was a great end to what had been a better day, unfortunately the forecast for strong winds overnight and for the following day didn’t inspire much confidence, but with pretty much all of our targets in the bag, we could afford to spend our last full day at a leisurely pace.
 
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