30 March - 13 April
Ramadan for the Muslims of Morocco...but that doesnt make any difference to tourism, it goes ahead.....
Weather.....well...lets face it....its going to be better than home.....whilst home was doing the British 8 - 14 degrees and feels like 5 - 10 degrees if youre lucky, over in Morocco it was anything between 21 degrees up in the mountains to 37 degrees in Marakech or out in the Sahara....
Landed in Marrakech and spent the night on the outskirts of the city....the plan was to escape early the next day and head out over the Atlas mountains......when we landed it was 35 degrees....coulnt wait to get the shorts on!!
Out over the Atlas the next day and the next two weeks heading towards Ouzazarte....Zagora....Mhamid....out in to the Sahara for a couple of days....then back to Ait ben Haddou...back over the mountains to Marrakech and fly home....
It was a family holiday so I was birding on my own, finding my own.....I had done some research on the internet and knew a few places to stop to try to find specific birds....the biggie for me was Moussiers Redstart...this was out third trip to Morocco and it has eluded me....and indeed it would do the same this time....
Its a reaonably common bird, but whenever I go to find it in reliable places it must know....and flies off somewhere else for the day.....
At the airport the first bird was Kestrel....which thankflly beats Feral Pigoen which is usually first at just about every destination....though it did come in second.....
At the car hire whilst the paperwork was being sorted a Barn Swallow flew past, a Collared Dove landed on a post, House Sparrows chirped and a Melodious Warbler was busy in a nearby tree. Not too shoddy for car hire paperwork!
Anyway....heres a list of the birds I saw.....some pictures I managed to take.....and lifers are clearly marked with an asterisk....its roughly in order but I had to remember some and so it did get a bit muddled....
House Bunting Bulbul Blackbird Spotless Starling European Bee Eater Turtle Dove
Nightingle Sardinan Warbler Mahgreb Magpie Rock Dove Pallid Swift Bonellis Warbler
Great Tit Booted Eagle Cettis Warbler Black Wheatear Grey Wagtail Long-legged Buzzard
Little Ringed Plover House Martin Serin White-crowned Wheatear *Black-eared Wheatear
Laughing Dove *Trumpeter Finch *Subalpine Warbler *Olivaceous Warbler Goldfinch
Cattle Egret *Rufous-tailed Bush Robin *Blue-cheeked Bee Eater Purple Heron Greenshank
Common Sanpiper Egyptian Geese Linnet Little Egret Spanish Sparrow White Stork
*Greater Short-toed Lark Spotted Flycatcher Crag Martin Red-rumped Swallow
*African Chaffinch *Moroccan Great-spotted Woodpecker Pied Flycatcher Woodchat Shrike
Northern Wheatear Iberain Chiffchaff Orphean Warbler Hoopoe *Fulvous Babbler
*Desert Lark *Desert Sparrow *Pin-tailed Sandgrouse *Spotted Sandgrouse
*Hoopoe Lark Scops Owl Nightjar Wren Blackcap Black Redstart Robin
*African Blue Tit
70 species....several more that I heard, didnt know and couldnt find....or simply didnt have the time....
The great thing about Morocco is there are many more species out there wating to be found....
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