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Marrakech early April (1 Viewer)

Himalaya

Well-known member
I'm hopefully in Marrakech from 1st - 5th April on a family visit. I hope to have 2 out of city trips probably by taxi to Oukaimeden and then to Essaouira

I'd like to see as much wildlife as possible on the trips birds mammals and more but without boring my family .....2 early teens...

Any good places to go birdwatching around Marrakech and in?

No accommodation booked yet.
 
I was in Marrakech beginning of this month. For the birding, you'll readily have Common Bulbul, House bunting, Greenfinch, Pallid and Common Swift, Common Wood Pigon, Spotless Starling, Collared Dove, Common Kestrel, Eurasian Blackbird,... from wherever you stay.
With some focus, you can also get Lesser Kestrel (around the Koutoubia), Little Swift (same place), Moroccan Wagtail (roofs, so watch from your rooftop), Eurasian Sparrowhawk, European Serin (parks) and Atlas Chaffinch (same). Parks close at night so Maghreb owl is tricky as you'd need a bird at the edge of a park, preferably calling ofcourse or not a lot of chance to find it.
One morning I walked to the airport (a fairly long walk) to pick up the rental, and walked through a newly developed 'park' (mainly olive trees), entering here: 31.617592804598644, -7.9976480170706. I was also startled by a sighting of Namaqua dove (which I didn't find, if only the observer spread the news a bit earlier on the same day, but one can't expect to have it all ofcourse!) in the same park. All I got from walking around the Southern part was confiding Maghreb magpies, Sardinian Warbler, Barbary Partridge and Western Subalpine Warbler (+ some of the ones mentioned above). Main birding area was around here: 31.615486322077274, -7.998366770021208

Oukaimeden is a 2 hr drive. If you need any pointers, happy to provide you some, as, for an area birded so frequently, it's amazing how few people enter their data with exact coordinates, so you could be e.g. messing around 1000 meters from a place where everybody sees the target bird in the most frequented site for said target bird.
 

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