Tuesday, 12 March 2013

Morocco Day Three

Cream-coloured Courser 
Thick-billed Lark 
Bar-tailed Desert Lark 
Hoopoe Lark 
Berber shepherd in hamada desert 
Lesser Short-toed Lark 
Crested Lark
Red-rumped Wheatear

 
Today was spent exploring the hamada desert around Tagdilt Track near Boumalne du Dades. Got a few WP ticks including Pharoh Eagle Owl, Red-rumped Wheatear and Thick-billed Lark. The hamada environment is all 'below the knee' with clumps of desert vegetation concealing a wide range of desert specialities including Temminck's Larks, Bar-tailed Desert Lark, Desert Lark, Crested Lark, Thekla Lark, Thick-billed Lark, Skylark, Short-toed Lark, Lesser Short-toed Lark, Cream Coloured Courser, Black-bellied Sandgrouse and Trumpeter Finch.
We had a look at a few farmsteads which act as good migrant traps- a few migrants heading towards Europe including Redstarts, Ring Ouzel, Tree Pipits, White Wagtails, Bluethroat, Chiffys, Subalpine Warbler, Swallows, Sand Martins and Pallid and Common Swifts.

3 comments:

StourbridgeRantBoy said...

Nice stuff, despite 7 visits in 4 years i've still not gone to the Tagdilt Track.......

Laurie -

Yoav Perlman said...

Ring Ouzel? That must be a good rarity there in the middle of the desert

Peter Alfrey said...

We had a Ring Ouzel in an irrigated farmstead in the desert with a few other migrants. They winter in Morrocco- mainly in the mountains.