After a great nights sleep in a brilliant hotel, it was another transfer day, this time continuing east towards the coast and Agadir.
First stop was just a few minutes away from the hotel at Mansour Reservoir where we had some water birding - great for getting some numbers on the list as we were a little light on ducks (amongst others!). As we arrived a large flock of Trumpeter Finch flew ahead of us, an Osprey flew towards us carrying a huge fish - it looked just like a airship with its basket below it.
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| Ruddy Shelduck |
White Storks were the most numerous birds by far, but to them were added Spoonbill, and then a raft of waterfowl including, Ruddy Shelduck, Gadwall, Mallard, Pintail, Shoveler, Teal, Coot, Great-crested Grebe, Great Cormorant and then as the telescopees scanned along the edge of the water Jaffa called Marbled
Teal and I shot over to look at the pair of birds. No sooner had I had a quick look than they seemed to disappear. Comments about our ID and stringing were expected and received, however after several minutes of scanning and changing angle on the area where they were seen, our due diligence paid off and the pair were re-found - honour intact once more.
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| Argan Trees (where the oil comes from) |
Waders were also seen here, a great area for lots more investigation. Kentish Plover, Curlew Sandpiper, Common and Spotted Redshank, and Common Greenshank were all duly listed. A raptor shot across and there was much debate on Barbary or Peregrine Falcon, digiscoped photos were taken, books referred to.
A Marsh harrier quartered over the far side of the water, flushing the ducks and waders as it went.
As we left the reservoir to start on the drive to Agadir I got a glimpse of a small dark dove sitting on a wire, could it be a Laughing Dove at last? Within seconds Darryl radioed from the second car to say they had a great view of the species on a wire, so after many broken promises from the Team Leader I finally had my first view for the trip.
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| Nightingale on migration |
The journey continued; past roadside settlements with stalls selling ceramics, textiles and jewellery. Mid-afternoon, amid much leg-pulling about coffee stops we pulled up at one such stop, with a vast array of wares. Strangely, even though previous attempts to purchase had so far been a hagglers delight the
shop owner seemed in no mood to barter and all parties left empty-handed.
At the Souss Valley we were off in search of some water birds to add to our ever-growing list and hopefully Red-necked Nightjar, which is known to feed at night alongside the river outside the Kings Palace. We were under strict orders not to look in the direction of the palace, gardens or the guards in case they became nervous. Of course the moment you are asked not to do something it is the one thing you want to do most, and frustratingly a lot of the birds were flying overhead in that direction - Pete was determined to look come what may, and although there was a little 'guard action' with whistles being blown and them looking in our direction, they didn't make a real move.
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| Moussier's Redstart |
As we wandered along, the mozzies came out in force and who needs guards to persuade you away when you are being bitten to pieces. The boys were getting a little hysterical and in their words 'acting like girls' until a small pool came into view and then they managed to compose themselves and get back to business of bird watching. There were many Black-necked Stilts, Cormorants, Dunlin, Snipe, a group of Marbled Teal flew over, Grey Heron, Cattle Egret and Little Egret were going onto roost, a group of Oystercatcher were settled on the far side of the river. As we moved back towards the potential Nightjar area, the mozzies launched another assault and we were all dancing about as Zitting Cisticola bounced and buzzed around us, with more Sardinian Warbler, again showing themselves rather sparingly.
Jaffa and I heard a couple of notes of Nightjar call in response to his tape, and we jumped as a large moth shot past in the fading light. Another call and we all had a Red-necked Nightjar in the beam of the well-handled torch - thanks Darryl. It was showing beautifully, then just to complete our day, a second bird flew up and then both landed someway behind us. We moved back and had both on the deck, for several seconds until they both flew again back safely in their domain.
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| Hard Core Birding at it's best! |
We walked briskly back to the vehicles in the quickly fading light, trying not to break into a run as the mosquitos followed in our wake. On the journey to our hotel in the centre of Agadir there was much swatting of errant insects.
