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Tagdilt Track, 13.04.2010 The best way to reach this point is by following the tarmac road to Ikniouen. Other species included Black-bellied Sandgrouse (2), Cream-coloured Courser (30+), Hoopoe Lark (3), Bar-tailed Desert Lark (1), Desert Lark (1), Temminck’s Horned Lark (30+), Desert Wheatear (10+), Red-rumped Wheatear (5+), House Bunting (1 ♂) and Trumpeter Finch (8+). The drinking ponds were dry. Afterwards we continued to the scenic Todra gorge, where it was already midday and where we failed to see Bonelli’s Eagle. Maghreb Wheatear, 13.04.2010 Red-rumped Wheatear, 13.04.2010 Cream-coloured Courser, 13.04.2010 House Bunting, 13.04.2010 We made our way to Rissani, where we met our guide Brahim Mezane (phone 00212 670181130, desertbirds.live.fr), a young and enthusiastic local. He showed us an adult 12
Pharaoh Eagle Owl with three chicks at a different location from the well known site. The big advantage was that we simply got out of the car and saw the birds. We paid him 150 MD. On the way back to Rissani we found a pair of Moroccan White Wagtails (race subpersonata) upstream from the river that is crossed when coming into Rissani. In Rissani we added Bluecheecked Bee-eater to our list. The final stop of the day was at Auberge Le Caravane, which is situated about 1 km from the famous Auberge Yasmina and Morocco’s biggest sand dune system, Erg Chebbi. We immediately found its owner Ibrahim (phone 00212 666 039175, kadi1974@hotmail.com), who is said to be one of the most reliable guides for the endangered Houbara Bustard. This enigmatic species was hunted close to extinction by Saudi falconers in the 1980s but in recent years birds have been regularly seen in the stony desert north and east of the Erg Chebbi. We paid 250 MD per person for dinner, bed and breakfast. Our final arrangement was to pay Ibrahim 1400 MD for a four-wheel drive tour if we saw the bustard and 500 MD if we failed. 14.04. On the following morning we went out with Ibrahim’s brother at 05:30 a.m. Ibrahim was busy and we had had no contact details to reserve him in advance. Ibrahim told us he had seen a bustard four days ago. Despite carefully searching the stone deserts north of Erg Chebbi until 09:30 a.m. we were not able to find our target bird. By this time it was clear that we were out of luck and we returned in poor spirit to the auberge, where a large breakfast cheered us up. Birds seen on the drive included 5+ Cream-coloured Coursers, 8+ Hoopoe Larks, which we heard singing everywhere, 2 Desert Larks and 4 Brown-necked Ravens. We twice heard Black-bellied Sandgrouse calling, but couldn’t locate them. After breakfast we left the auberge and found at least 20 Brown-necked Ravens feeding in the rubbish close by. We visited the Spanish ringing station at Auberge Yasmina but migration was very slow and not many birds were caught. At 12 o’clock we tried the Desert Warbler site described by Dave Gosney about 8 km west of Auberge Caravan. We started to search for this bird about 600 m east of the GPS point 31.2415 N, 4.0834 W and were very surprised to find a pair of African Dunn’s Larks at close range. This species is restricted to the southern Western Sahara and according to Patrick Bergier this is the first record for Morocco apart from the Western Sahara. I immediately sent a text message to Patrick Bergier and on the same day some other birders were able to twitch the lark. Exactly at the GPS point a singing African Desert Warbler and another bird (probably female) were located. African Dunn’s Lark, Merzouga area, 14.04.2010 13 In search of African Desert Warbler, Merzouga area, 14.04.2010 Our next stop was the famous Auberge Derkaoua, which used to be the place for Egyptian Nightjar. We searched the wadi north of the auberge for this species and Sahara Olivaceous Warbler but in vain. Our search was complicated by the onset of a sandstorm, which lasted until night time. The situation was the same at Auberge Tresor, the most reliable place for
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