Fiche de renseignements - Go-South

We then visited the well known breeding site for Lesser Kestrel just south of Ifrane, where
about 50 birds were hunting for insects at close range. This stop also produced 3 Booted
Eagles (including a pair on a nest) and Black Kites. We continued to Rabat, seeing several
hundred Cattle Egrets on the way. We explored the area between Sidi Yaya and Sidi
Bettache in the afternoon to get a first impression of this famous site for one of the most
sought-after Moroccon species, the enigmatic Double-spurred Francolin. We found 3
Black-shouldered Kites, 1 Booted Eagle and 1 Woodchat Shrike. We struggled to find a
hotel south of Rabat but finally located the Hotel Panorama (www.panoramasabledor.com) in
Témara Plage.
17.04. Sidi Yaya – Sidi Bettache, Lac de Sidi Boughaba, Merja Zerga
We had to get up at 4 a.m. to be at the Double-spurred Francolin site at the parking lot
south of the hunting reserve between Sidi Yaya and Sidi Bettache before dawn. But this was
in vain and we were out of luck this morning. We finally gave up at 7:15 a.m. having only
seen a pair of Barbary Patridge.
Disappointed, we headed north to Lac di Sidi Boughaba, where several White-headed
Ducks (3 adult males, 3 immature males and 1 adult female), 15 Crested Coots with 10 pulli
and 2 adult Purple Gallinules were on the southern part of the lake. Other species included
Ferruginous Ducks, Marbled Ducks and Little Tern.
White-headed Duck, Lac de Sidi Boughaba, 17.04.2010
We had a late breakfast at the Port di Sidi Boughaba, where we also did some seawatching,
which produced Gannets, Sandwich Terns, Cory’s Shearwaters and a distant unidentified
small Skua species.
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