Day 1 of the Legacy Tours Morocco Birding Trip was great. We left the Hotel Toubkal in Casablanca at 6:30 AM and headed north toward Rabat. Along the way we stopped at several places along the coast looking for shorebirds, gulls, and migrants headed toward Europe. The first stop was right along the highwa
We had a nice variety of gulls here too, including a Mediterranean Gull, a black-headed gull with a red bill that stood out from the many Black-headed Gulls also there. We also had both species of Redshank, Spotted and Common. The Spotted Redshank has longer legs and a thicker shorter bill, and was a lifer for most of us on the trip.Curlew Sandpipers and Dunlin were together for nice comparisons, and we also added Little Stint, Common Ring-necked Plover, and a few passerines.
We pulled off at a sewer treatment facility by a McDonalds where we saw Lesser Kestrel and the recently split African Blue Tit. This is much like the Blue Tit of Europe, but has a larger white area on the head.
We took our longest walk of the day at Oued Cherrat, a coastal river (Oued means river in Arabic) where over 60 Collared Pratincoles were constantly flying overhead, we added Pied Avocet to the much more common Black-winged Stilts, 12 Kentish Plover and one Little Ringed Plover were seen, and 3 Great Gray Shrike and a single Woodchat Shrike perched for us. Crested Larks were in the fields, and Willow Warblers and Common Chiffchaf were in the riverside brush. Western Yellow Wagtail and White Wagtails were near the water.
Our last stop of the day was at Side Boughaba Lake, a park where we added lots of waterfowl, including White-headed Duck, a stiff-tailed duck related to our Ruddy Duck, but even more colorful with its large sky-blue bill. Great Crested Grebe and Little Grebe, both Red-crested and Common Pochard and Ferruginous Ducks gave great looks, and a Red-shielded Coot came very close for photos.
We ended the day’s list with a House Bunting that seems to be nesting on a light fixture in the outdoor restaurant where we had dinner.
A great start with 85 species and 26 lifers so far on the trip,
You can best hear about Day 1 & 2 on my second mini-podcast episode on The Bird Banter Podcast.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bird-banter-podcast-morocco-trip-days-1-2/id1450449001?i=1000435303247
On Day 2 we made a number of stops in the areas around Rabat. We started by going inland from the coast trying for migrant and resident passerines as well as more water-related species. Our first major stop was at a road into a small wetlands where we checked the wetlands, and then took a nice walk along a riparian type ditch during intermittent showers. Common Cuckoos were calling and flying about, whie Corn Buntings seemed to be singing from every post of grassy knoll. Crested Larks were also very numerous.
Two Cirl Buntings, both females, gave good looks.
A Booted Eagle flew overhead.
We totaled 31 species at this stop.
Next we went to a woodland park called Réserve Royale de Chasse. There we heard, and Heather and our guide Mohammed saw Double-spurred Frankolin. Common Nightingales sang incessantly from hidden perches. We left there with plans to return on Day 3 (the next day) early to have better chances for the Frankolin and other species.
On the ride back to the hotel we saw a flock of migrating Euroean Bee Eaters and stopped for nice looks.
We stayed our second night at Hotel Ambassy. Dinner both nights was fine, I had vegetable tagine on night two, spaghetti on day 1.
Day 3 was mostly driving, but in the early AM we went back to the preserve from the day prior, getting there about 7:45 AM and as soon as we got out of the van it started to rain. The whole time there it rained variably hard, at times a drenching downpour. Despite the rain, the birding was quite good. We all saw the Double-spurred Frankolins several times in flight, and some saw it running, though nobody really had great looks.
Best other birds were Tree Pipit
Spotted Flycatcher, European Pied Flycatcher, and Eurasian Blackcap.
From there we took a long drive to another protected area where we got distant but pretty good looks at Barburry Partridge, and a fly-by look at a Great Spotted Cuckoo.
Our stay for the next couple of nights is at a snazzy hotel in Marrakech, the Art Place Marrakech. which is right on the Medina, or city center mall.
Tomorrow we head into the mountains for a whole new avifauna of birds, many more specific to Morocco.
Good birding. Good day!