Morocco in Spring Recap
The annual Spring Morocco tour was another success, with all of our major targets seen and then some. Starting in the Atlas Mountains, the late-season snowfall seemed to work in our favor, as Crimson-winged Finches were prevalent, with a couple dozen feeding at our feet in a parking lot alongside plenty of Rock Sparrows. Levaillant’s Woodpecker, “Maghreb” Owl, Tristran’s Warbler, Atlas Wheatear, Moussier’s Redstart, Alpine Accentor, Stone Partridge, and others all put on a great show.
The desert plains near Boumalne Dades provided plenty of larks, including Greater Hoopoe, Temminck’s, and Thick-billed, along with multiple species of wheatears, including Red-rumped and “Maghreb,” as well as Cream-colored Coursers. A nearby canyon hosted a nesting Pharaoh Eagle-Owl pair.
Working our way toward the towering dunes of Merzouga and adding Scrub Warbler along the way, we swapped into 4x4s to target remote species such as Desert Sparrow and African Desert Warbler. Despite an afternoon of torrential rainfall that caused flash floods and delays, we still managed to connect with a pair of Egyptian Nightjars.
Turning our attention to the coast near Agadir, a couple of days exploring several estuaries netted us a whole host of gulls, terns, shorebirds, and ducks, including a vagrant Ring-billed Gull, a day-roosting Red-necked Nightjar, and our main coastal target, Northern Bald Ibis.
Wonderful hotels, delicious tagines, and an excellent group of people—you couldn’t ask for much more.
