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for birding sites can be gleaned off of various trip reports, though another useful addition is the now slightly outdated Dave Gosney guide, which still contains some good information.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.
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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