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Saturday 28 March to Wednesday 8 April 2009
Cost: £1450 plus about £300 for flights Single room supplement: £180 Click here for explanation of price breakdown Maximum group size: 10 with 1 leader. |
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As early spring touches Morocco, the country bursts into life, offering the visiting birdwatcher some truly memorable experiences. We begin in the dramatic mountains of the High Atlas Here we’ll seek out a variety of mountain species, and in particular the elusive Crimson-winged Finch, a species that is probably seen more easily here than anywhere else. Perhaps most exciting of all will be our trip through the desert areas near Boumalne and Merzouga along the edge of the spectacular Sahara Desert. In this beautiful landscape are more exciting birds including some classic desert species of North Africa such as Cream-coloured Courser, Thick-billed Lark and Desert Sparrow. We then travel down to the Atlantic coast and Agadir where we hope to find Bald Ibis, one of the world’s rarest birds, as well as a variety of waterbirds on the esturies of the Sous and Massa. No tour to Morocco would be complete without a visit to the magical town of Marrakech, and to finish we return there where we’ll get a real flavour of exotic Morocco as we wander the bustling street markets or sip mint tea in a cool, tiled courtyard.
Day 1: Our tour starts with a flight from London to Marrakech. If time allows we may have our first taste of North African birding near our hotel where Little and Pallid Swifts chase each other relentlessly over the soft pink-toned buildings of this exotic city, and Common Bulbuls sing from the garden. Night in Marrakech. Day 2: We’ll make an early start and begin our journey into the High Atlas, our destination being the ski resort of Oukaimeden. There will be many birds to distract us on the journey from massive White Storks to roadside Serins and Southern Grey Shrikes. Once we start to gain elevation the habitat changes and we'll seek out our first Maghreb endemic, Levaillant’s Green Woodpecker. Once at the ski resort we'll concentrate on searching for Crimson-winged Finch, Horned Larks, Alpine and Red-billed Choughs, Rock Sparrow and possibly Alpine Accentor. Its always worth keeping an eye overhead as Golden Eagles are resident and this is one of the few areas where Lammergeier is still seen. In some years migrants may linger around the mountains, held up by bad weather, and may include Woodchat Shrike or flocks of Yellow Wagtails feeding around the snow melt while the rocky hillsides are home to another two endemics - Moussier’s Redstart and Seebohm’s Northern Wheatear. Night at Oukaimeden. Day 3: Before breakfast we'll spend time searching for any birds that have eluded us so far, maybe catching up with a breeding Dipper, Black Redstart or Water Pipit. We'll also be paying full attention to the local Blue Tits and Chaffinches as, depending on whose taxonomy you follow, both are already good species. Then we begin our drive out of the mountains which involves heading down to the plains of Marrakech and then back up another mountain pass. It’s a long drive but well stop on the journey, maybe for a Rock Bunting, Tristram’s Warbler (another Maghreb speciality) or a flock of migrant Black Kites working their way north. Before reaching our hotel we'll look for Western Mourning Wheatear, never easy to find, and there will be Black Wheatears and maybe migrant European Bee-eaters to keep our attention. Night in Boumalne.
Day 4: We will spend the day exploring the famous Tagdilt track. Although not as good as it used to be it is still an important area for several species. Wheatears are represented by Red-rumped, Desert and Northern while every lark on the Moroccan list has been recorded here. Temmink’s Horned Lark is a real star bird of the area but whilst searching we could see Hoopoe Lark, Bar-tailed Desert Lark and maybe even the nomadic Thick-billed Lark. Another highly sought bird in this area is Cream-coloured Courser while there is always a chance of a Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Lanner Falcon, Long-legged Buzzard or Trumpeter Finch. If time allows we'll visit the Todra Gorge, home to breeding Crag Martin, Grey Wagtail, Blue Rock Thrush, House Bunting and Desert Lark as well as the occasional pair of Bonelli’s Eagles. Night at Boumalne. Day 5: Our desert birding continues but now we move from the higher altitude stony desert into a lower sandy habitat and although some species remain the same there will be new ones to look for. White-crowned Black Wheatear becomes more common than Black, the Bee-eaters could include Blue-cheeked and migrants could occur anywhere as we follow palm lined roads towards the Sahara. On the journey there are chances of larks and wheatears at many points and once at our hotel we can check for any newly arrived migrants. Before dinner we'll search for Egyptian Nightjar near our hotel, not present every year but our hotel is one of the best sites to see this special bird. Night near Merzouga.
Day 6: Before breakfast we'll check our oasis-style hotel grounds for any migrants. Most likely are warblers such as Subalpine and Sardinian, Western Bonelli’s and Western Olivaceous Warblers, Hoopoe, Woodchat Shrike, Nightingale and maybe a Bluethroat. The rest of the day will be spent exploring the desert in 4 wheel drive vehicles in search of Cream-coloured Courser, Desert Sparrow, African Desert Warbler, Hoopoe Lark, Brown-necked Raven and more migrants. In some years a temporary lake forms near Merzouga offering the peculiar site of Greater Flamingos, White Storks or maybe even Marbled Ducks with the breath-taking Erg Chebbi dunes as a back drop. This area was formerly good for Houbara Bustard but since the late 1990’s there have been so many captive-bred birds released for hunting that a genuine wild bird would be difficult to prove. However we hope to catch site of at least one in its natural habitat. If time allows we'll again search for Egyptian Nightjar close to our hotel as dusk falls. Night near Merzouga.
Day 7: Today is mainly a travelling day as we retrace our steps towards Ouarzazate. Near the town we'll check out a good site for Fulvous Babbler and a nearby lake may add to our wildfowl and shorebird list with Ruddy Shelduck also possible. The waterside bushes here also act like migrant traps and we could see more warblers, Common Redstarts, Nightingales and hirundines making their way north. Night in Ouarzazate. Day 8: Another travelling day but this time using a different route we'll again traverse the High Atlas. This will give us more chances for Tristram’s Warbler and maybe even the local race of Crossbill, the most south westerly Crossbills in the Western Palearctic. We'll be keeping an eye open for raptors again with Booted Eagle likely, and Golden Eagles possible once more. Night in Taroudant. Day 9: Our destination today is the coastal city of Agadir. Here the long sandy beaches stretch for miles and flocks of Audouin’s Gulls will still be present before heading north to their Mediterranean breeding grounds. If time allows we search for one of the worlds rarest breeding birds, the Northern Bald Ibis. Known from just a handful of sites in the wild this species stands on the edge of extinction. Whilst searching for the ibis we are sure to see other great birds from Barbary Falcons, Eurasian Spoonbills and Greater Flamingos to Black-crowned Tchagras, Moroccan White Wagtails and maybe even the endangered riggenbachi race of European Shag. Back at our our hotel we'll check a site for Red-necked Nightjar. Night in Agadir. Day 10: Our efforts will be concentrated on the Massa estuary and time spent in that area is sure to produce some fantastic birding. The estuary usually holds all manner of wetland species from Glossy Ibis, Squacco Herons and Kingfisher to Marbled Duck, Red-crested Pochard and migrant waders. The trees and bushes around the estuary are always worthy of attention and we should see more Black-crowned Tchagras, Laughing Dove, Southern Grey Shrikes, Cetti’s Warbler and Zitting Cisticola (the only representative of the family in the Western Palearctic). This site often pulls in a few rare and scarce birds and we'll make sure we check all the ducks, gulls and terns for anything unusual. The nearby stoney desert holds breeding Cream-coloured Courser, Eurasian Stone Curlew and Little Owl and further inland the river course is a good area for Black-shouldered Kite, Short-toed Eagle and Plain Martin. Before dusk we'll wait at a drainage canal where Black-bellied Sandgrouse sometimes come to drink, a great way to end a great days birding. Night in Agadir. Day 11: This morning we have more time to search again for Bald Ibis if they have proved elusive, or a visit to the Souss estuary, another site at times alive with waders, wildfowl and herons. Rare and scarce birds are often found here and careful checking of the gulls should produce a few Slender-billed and Mediterranean Gulls as well as Gull-billed and Caspian Terns. The estuary mouth is often used by migrant Ospreys as a fishing site and smaller migrants can be found all along the nearby scrub. This area is also good for the Maghreb Magpie, another sub-species already split by some authorities. We'll spend the rest of the day travelling back to Marrakech and if time allows we'll visit the atmospheric square or Djema el Fna to witness the hustle and bustle of this ancient town! Night in Marrakech. Day 12: There may be chance for some sightseeing in the city or shopping in the souk before our flight back to London where the tour concludes. E-mail or phone +44 (0)1767 262522 for availability.
Last updated August 2008. |
We begin the tour in the Atlas Mountains where Crimson-winged Finch is one of the special birds...
Morocco is a great place for wheatears and the Atlas Mountains is a good place to see Seebohm's Wheatear, the NW African race of Northern Wheatear.
On the the Tagdilt track we find such classic species as Cream-coloured Courser,....
Thick-billed Lark.....
And where White-crowned Black Wheatear are fairly common.
Photos by James Lidster and Jeremy Roberts. |
Bird
List
and Alpine Choughs are common. 
And where we can have our first encounter with a colourful
Moussier's Redstart.
and Temminck's Horned Lark.
We then move down to the edge of the Sahara Desert where this parasitic broomrape adds a splash of colour.
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater are another speciality of the desert.
While migrants such as this Bonelli's Warbler can be