Once again, in February Jan, Lukas and I went south, this year we chose Morocco to explore some vast desert areas and mountain ranges for nice North African birds, particularly desert birds. It has been a very nice and straightforward trip with very friendly people, many dreambirds, fantastic sceneries and magic moments in the silence of the desert. We flew to Agadir and took a rental car to explore the country on our own. We mainly found our own spots with all target species and were mostly all alone. A detailed birding trip report will follow soon.
We started the trip in Massa and the Souss Massa National Park, south of Agadir, which proved to be a good choice to get into the country. We spent a lot of time just outside our accomodation with the first target species, such as Moussier´s Redstart.
From Massa we went South to the Sahara Desert near Guelmim. For sure, one of the highlights of the trip!
Dusk and dawn with the dawn chorus of Wheatears and Larks were particularly magic in the desert.
Luckily we had some overcast hours as well, where we could photgraph during the day.
We encountered far more Desert- and Red-rumped Wheatears than expected.
Wistfully we left the desert and continued our journey to the High Atlas Mountains via the Souss Valley with displaying Red-necked Nightjars at Dusk.
Crimson-winged Finch, Horned Lark and Rock Sparrow were the targets in Oukaimeden, a famous Ski-village in the Atlas Mountains. The birds were easy to find but hard to fotograph in appealing surroundings.
The desire to return to the desert grew and grew although implying that we had to cross the Atlas Mountains once again…
Definately proved to be the right decision, we went towards Ouazarzate and spent most of the time in the desert near Amerzgane.
