Eastern Europe ...Lithuania, a birder's tale. (1 Viewer)

Great read ,as always

Tchagra, the beginning of the coastal leg

Now, Black-crowned Tchagras are smart birds and Oued Massa is a place to find them, but the snag is you realistically only have a window of a half hour or so in which to find them - up comes the sun and down go they, hidden in thicets for the rest of the day! So, pre-dawn I got myself into position, choosing a right nice bunch of bushes where I encountered them many a year back. Up came the sun and I waited for the song to start, the distinctive call being the best way to pinpoint them.Total silence, not a peep of anything remotely tchagra-ish. The local Moussier's Redstarts woke up and put on a good show, Cetti's Warblers started up in the nearby oued and a whole gang of Moroccan Magpies turned up, the latter a right smart race of the familiar one across Europe. Still no song of the desired one. Sun had been up for 20 minutes and I decided to try another patch some hundred or so metres on, Spotless Starlings greeted me, Common Bulbuls were, well, common and doing what bulbuls do. Started to think another dawn might be needed, but just then a distintive shape flitted across from one thicket to the next. Ah yes, it was a Black-crowned Tchagra, and all I had to do was be patient - they can not resist a little early morning sunbathind, so I crept round the bush, got the camera ready and waited. Sure enough, a few movements from the depths and then there he was, making his way to the top of the bush. And where there's one, there had to be a second ...they almost always travel in twos. A few moments more and I had them both in full view, some nice early morning minutes to enjoy.
Next, I had the whole day before me - not difficult to fill, Oued Massa is just a fantastic place. A small wetland abutting the Atlantic, the day's delights naturally included waterbirds by the bucketload - Greater Flamingos, Glossy Ibis, Crane, a few Ferruginous Ducks, 40 or so Marbled Teal and at a couple of Ospreys too. More than this, its the best place in Morocco to find Plain Martin and find them I did, along with quite a few Crag Martins and a Red-rumped Swallow. As midday approached, thought it might be sociable to try and locate my friend somewhere down on the beach - didn't find them, but did come face to face with a big pair of yellow eyes staring at me! Click, click, click and I think I now have some very fine photos of a Stone Curlew.
As for the friend, found them a little later by the lagoon watching an Osprey and hoping to find the Glossy Ibises. Egytpian Mongoose decided to try and sneak past.

By mid-afternoon, as the heat began to build, I thought it time for another trip to the desertlands, this time a couple of hundred kilometres to the south. Wonder why I wanted to go there? Got there and opted for another night in the car - I wanted to be on site for dawn.

Desertlands for for one reason only of course, to mop up on yet more desert specials. Site one and another elusive bird to search for - Scrub Warbler. The whole area, indeed from here onward, was alive with wheatears ...take your pick, Desert Wheatear, Red-rumped Wheatear, White-crowned Black Wheatear, Black Wheatear, almost falling over themselves to get the best stones on which to perch. A Tristram's Warbler was also most co-operative, but it was not he I was searching. In fact it took me near an hour of slog across the desert before I eventually found a pair of the Scrub Warblers, very dainty and active things. Thought I'd be darn lucky to get anything approaching a photo - they were flitting from bush to bush at one heck of a rate, but then suddenly they took a prolonged fancy to one tiny patch of scrub and, as luck would have it, one decided to pop right up onto the top just as I had my lens pointed that way, yippee I thought and returned to the car. A few more stops, one for a pair of Lanners on a pylon chomping through some bird, another for a wander through an area famed for Thick-billed Larks. They didn't show that day, but ample compensation with some almost tame Bar-tailed Desert Larks, more wheatears, a Long-legged Buzzard and a few fly-over Black-bellied Sandgrouse.

Then thought it nice to return to Oued Massa for the evening - a perfect end to the day, watching the sun go down to a backdrop of a couple of White Storks plodding a meadow, a Black-shouldered Kite coming into roost in a palm and assorted goodies, including Iberian Yellow Wagtails and a mixed roost of Spanish Sparrows and Spotless Starlings.

Just spotted this thread and looking forward to seeing how you get on the further you go !

One of the Belgians wasn't a little guy called Hughes by any chance ?, he's regularly in Morocco and his crew pulled our van out of the sand near Merzouga once...if so he sure deserves those Sparrows you found !

Dead gripped by the Desert Eagle Owl BTW !, Happy New Year

Larry Wheatland said:

One of the Belgians wasn't a little guy called Hughes by any chance?

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Afraid not, no Hughes amongst them. Still, these too were nice enough guys, so happy that got the sparrows too. Ta for feedback, trip still going very well, so will update again soon.

:clap: :clap:

awesome read as always jos

Next up came a little wander up to Tamri. Now anyone who knows Morocco knows what I was doing there! And did those blighters give me a run about - if not on the lagoon, there should be reasonably easy enough to find on the cliff tops either north or south. Not on the lagoon, just a couple of Spoonbills and stacks of gulls - but rather nice gulls. My last trip, back in the dawn of days when Slender-billed Curlews still occurred, was marked by rather few Auduoin's Gulls ...my notebook records seven at Tamri way back ten. What a difference today - a staggering 790 and many more further along the coast! But back to the special one, went up and down the coast and drew a total blank. Found a rather nice pair of Barbary Falcon, then decided it was coffee time. Long-legged Buzzard posed for photo, an Egyptian Mongoose did a run by and, as it neared early afternoon, I finally spotted the distinctive profile - I could see one on a ride about a kilometre distant. Over I drove and then sat and waited as it wlked down the slope towards me - one stunning Bald Ibis feeding about four metres from me, right cracker. Then they came like London buses! Four more flew in and joined this one, all feeding all around me, then later another flew by, then three more and in the evening found a roost of 16 nearby.

Managed a bit of seawatching too - over two sessons, Cory's Shearwater, Mediterranean Shearwater and Manx Shearwater, Common Scoter too and Razorbill. All to a backdrop of sun and temps sitting happily in the hig 20s, the perfect way to do a seawatch.

After moved down to Oued Sous, a small estuary heaving in Greater Flamingos and waders - a right nice day there, but will be returning there again later in the trip, so more of that another time, other thn to say I fond a Red-breasted Merganser at the rivermouth, which strikes me as dead odd for Morocco.

Now, being somewhat in a timewarp and still writing about pre-Christmas and I'll jump ahead a little. Stopped in Taroudant - amazing colony of White Storks nesting in palm trees, then started back on the return to Marrakech. Took the simply breathtakingly picturesque Tizi-n-Test road over the High Atlas, snaking up over 2000 metres ...not huge numbers of birds, but right corkers amongst them - 22 Barbary Partridge, a flock of 150 Chough and, in a lower valley, a little collection of goodies, headed by Hawfinch and Levaillant's Green Woodpecker.

Then decided to take a short-cut to Oukaimeden, more of this next time - it proved to be the single most dangerous and nerve-racking drive of my life - 50km of absolute tension, non-stop! My long-suffering companion on this birding venture was left unable to speak for a good few hours and don't even remember any birds bar some Wood Pigeons!!!

Mega exploits and feeders

Hello Jos!

Good to read about your exploits over the Christmas period.

Did your mega feeders get emptied while you were away?

Any White-tailed Eagles about on your return?

All the best for your reserve and birding in 2007!

Cheers,
Chris B

awesome little read jos, your right there are some corkers there

Chris Monk said:

Good to read about your exploits over the Christmas period.

Did your mega feeders get emptied while you were away?

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I wouldn't know, I'm still in Morocco, but I sincerely hope not ...were designed to hold enough to last out the whole trip.


Anyhow, back to the trip and that short cut to Oukaimeden. Started quite reasonable enough, a rocky dirt track winding up into the hills. Nice scenic route I thought. All too soon it was a very narrow, very rocky affair with rather impressive drops to the one side and of course not a hint of a crash barrier. Still nothing too unusual so far, so on I pushed and up we went, occasional rock falls and broken branches forcing us rather near the edge for comfort. On up rose the track, looking ever more like a mistake, but still quite fun. Then we hit the snow ...from the heavy falls a couple of weeks earlier, the track was still covered. Still must be near the top by now I thought, we had covered 15 km ...wrong it continued to go up and up for another 35 km. Well, I'm used to driving in snow, but not with a drop of some hundreds of metres to the immediate side. Then it got too deep and we were stuck, but with passenger out I just got enough clearance to finally back out. Rest of the route was pure tension, a gamble of picking up enough speed to bulldoze through the deeper snow, not too fast to skid off on the sudden icy patches. At one stage, I really doubted we'd get through one nasty section, so made my travel companion walk that bit and somehow did manage. Then it got dark, then it got foggy, but at least you could no longer see where you would go in event of mistake anymore.

Then, like a miracle, suddenly arrived at an asphallt road, turned right and headed ever upward ...broke through the top of the fog and into a bright starry night, we were at 2600 metres and Oukaimeden was in sight.

Sounds like buttock clenching stuff Jos! Great read as ever.

Stay safe

Stewart

Jos Stratford said:

I wouldn't know, I'm still in Morocco, but I sincerely hope not ...were designed to hold enough to last out the whole trip.


Anyhow, back to the trip and that short cut to Oukaimeden. Started quite reasonable enough, a rocky dirt track winding up into the hills. Nice scenic route I thought. All too soon it was a very narrow, very rocky affair with rather impressive drops to the one side and of course not a hint of a crash barrier. Still nothing too unusual so far, so on I pushed and up we went, occasional rock falls and broken branches forcing us rather near the edge for comfort. On up rose the track, looking ever more like a mistake, but still quite fun. Then we hit the snow ...from the heavy falls a couple of weeks earlier, the track was still covered. Still must be near the top by now I thought, we had covered 15 km ...wrong it continued to go up and up for another 35 km. Well, I'm used to driving in snow, but not with a drop of some hundreds of metres to the immediate side. Then it got too deep and we were stuck, but with passenger out I just got enough clearance to finally back out. Rest of the route was pure tension, a gamble of picking up enough speed to bulldoze through the deeper snow, not too fast to skid off on the sudden icy patches. At one stage, I really doubted we'd get through one nasty section, so made my travel companion walk that bit and somehow did manage. Then it got dark, then it got foggy, but at least you could no longer see where you would go in event of mistake anymore.

Then, like a miracle, sudeenly arrived at an asphallt road, turned right and headed ever upward ...broke through the top of the fog and into a bright starry night, we were at 2600 metres and Oukaimeden was in sight.

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Was feeling very jealous of the whole trip but am suddenly surprisingly glad that I'm stuck in flat old Peterborough!

Glad you made it to the top. And thanks for all the risks you're taking for our entertainment.

Helen

Mountain jewels

After the drama of getting there, it was with just reward that my day at Oukaimeden turned out to be one of the best of the whole trip. Woke at the customary pre-dawn and wandered out into the chill of a crisp minus 4. What a place, the first light was just clipping the peaks around and from the heights, flocks of birds were dropping out of the sky - tumbling collections of Chough, first Red-billed Choughs by the dozen, then Alpine Choughs by the hundred. Then town was alive with them swooping about and calling, quite magical. Far too dark to take photos, so I shuffled along to a car park just up the valley and what a great sight there too - a flock of Shorelarks, tame as could be, and perhaps as close as two metres on occasion. Then the star, as the Shorelarks flitted up onto a snow bank, from nowhere appeared Crimson-winged Finches, a whole 32 of them. Not the easiest bird to see anywhere, this has to be just about the best place in the Western Paleoarctic to encounter this special bird ...and I had done so before the sun was even up.

By now, my fingers were beginning to freeze, so a quick return to the hotel to wait the sun come up. Sat by the radiator and listened to the Alpine Choughs out the window. Finally the sun poked up over the ridge, so out I went again - pictures of the Shorelarks no problem, but it seemed the Crimson-winged Finches had gone. Just then, one landed right in front of me, paused for about 15 seconds, letting me get the pictures, then flitted off, never to be seen again during the day.

In the now warm valley, spent a very nice day, watching abundant Rock Sparrows, Rock Buntings and some right stunning African Blue Tits. A sunny hillside behind the village held birds all day, allowing good photos to be had of many, and adding Black Wheatear and Barbary Partridge to the day's tally.

Then did a bit of touristy stuff, took a ski lift to a peak towering above the valley - at 3200 metres and looking towards even an greater 4000 metre mountain, it was above the birds, but I did secretly hope for a chance encounter with Lammergeier. Didn't happen, but still, can only say what a amazing place.

Then came some birding in the lower valleys, notching up a real close Levaillant's Green Woodpecker, before hanging up the binoculars for a couple fo days of culture in Marrakech. Hang up th binoculars, yeah right ...you'd be bonkers, some good birds even in the heart of the centre. From Jeema el Feena, the bustling heart, a noisy and colourful assortment of vendors, food stalls, snake charmers and ancient souks leading off in all directions, there are birds to enjoy too. House Buntings and Spotless Starlings adorn the building, White Storks drift over, Little Swifts appear to roost at the one end of the square and, whilst sitting in a street cafe on one occasion, a Barbary Falcon went motoring over. All good stuff, plus the Common Bulbuls and African Chaffinches.

By now, it was Christmas Eve, the car had gone back, my friend had just fleed the country and stage oneof the trip was over. Part two to come, the venture into the Western Sahara.

Jos Stratford said:

Then came some birding in the lower valleys, notching up a real close Levaillant's Green Woodpecker, before hanging up the binoculars for a couple fo days of culture in Marrakech. Hang up th binoculars, yeah right ...you'd be bonkers, some good birds even in the heart of the centre. From Jeema el Feena, the bustling heart, a noisy and colourful assortment of vendors, food stalls, snake charmers and ancient souks leading off in all directions, there are birds to enjoy too. House Buntings and Spotless Starlings adorn the building, White Storks drift over, Little Swifts appear to roost at the one end of the square and, whilst sitting in a street cafe on one occasion, a Barbary Falcon went motoring over. All good stuff, plus the Common Bulbuls and African Chaffinches.

By now, it was Christmas Eve, the car had gone back, my friend had just fleed the country and stage oneof the trip was over. Part two to come, the venture into the Western Sahara.

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Sounds like Carry on Follow that Camel!

Jos,

I know the EU has just expanded further eastward, but given the thread title isn't Moroccco stretching the definition of Eastern Europe a bit too far? No sense of geography some people.

Good luck in Western Sahara, sounds like a very interesting place to travel in.

Stuart

And then it was Christmas, Western Sahara

StuartReeves said:

I know the EU has just expanded further eastward, but given the thread title isn't Morocco stretching the definition of Eastern Europe a bit too far?

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Going to stretch it a little further now, here comes part two - a trip into the Western Sahara Don't worry, all too soon this thread will be back on track and I'll be re-entrenched in Eastern Europe proper. Heck, it might not even be the shock to the system I was expecting - a staggering plus 10 there this week, not quite the mega minuses that would be par for the course! Anyhow, for now, a further push southward:


Western Sahara

I was not expecting big things for Christmas Day, I had no birding information as to where to go and had simply boarded a bus the evening before for a gruelling 16 hours that would take me deep into the territory of Western Sahara, a state recognised by the United Nations and most other bodies, but not by Morocco. The Moroccans, aside from the minor inconvenience to the locals of conducting a war over many years, were also nice enough to build a super asphalt road all the way from Morocco proper to the deep south, ensuring my Christmas Eve was smooth and bumpless! What nice fellows they are.

Christmas morning, pre-dawn and a bit weary-eyed, the first birds of the day - all from the bus window as we neared the coast, Lesser Black-backed Gull and Audouin's Gull, then a Black Wheatear. Spotted Sandgrouse was seen not much later. It was not til 10.30 that my bus finally deposited me in Laayoune, the so-called capital. It was to my pleasant surprise that just before entering town, we had crossed a flamingo-filled lagoon, the first real water I had seen all day. So I had a birding site for my day's birding - chucked my little daypack in a hotel, then went for a wander. The lagoon followed a wadi for a few kilometres before finally giving up the ghost and vanishing into a massive bank of rolling sand dunes. But those few kilometres, sheer magic.

The first couple of kilometres were fairly saline and banks devoid of vegetation, but absolutely crammed with birds: perhaps 650 Greater Flamingos and waders everywhere - at least 800 Black-winged Stilts, 150 Avocets and about 400 Sanderling amongst the most numerous, but also good numbers of Ringed Plovers, Little Ringed Plovers, Redshanks and a dozen or so other species. Then there was a short break in the pools before a short walk led me to a real oasis - fresh water, green and lush and stacks of birds. More Greater Flamingos and Black-winged Stilts, but also masses of other waders, including Wood Sandpiper, and an impressive wildfowl collection totalling almost a thousand birds, led by upward of 650 Marbled Teal and 45 Ruddy Shelducks. Quartering the pool, two Marsh Harriers occasionally spooked the odd bird, but the appearance of an adult Bonelli's Eagle, bird of the day, really caused commotion, putting everything up into the air.

Passerines were rather thin on the ground, but the oasis area did okay - two Red-throated Pipits with a few Meadow Pipits, several Northern Wheatears and, in adjacent desert, both Desert Wheatear and Hoopoe Lark. An arrival of hirundines saw not onlya dozen or so Barn Swallows, but also at least 20 House Martins and a single Rock Martin too.

And just to finish the day off, staggering back into the town in the evening, nicely suntanned and feeling quite happy with what Santa had provided, a spiral of swifts appeared above me - 12 Pallid Swifts and 5 Little Swifts.

As always a great read Jos :flowers: