TRANSFER FROM OURIKA VALLEY TO BOULMALNE DU DADES VIA THE TIZI N’ TISHKA PASS.
WEATHER: cloudy with rain showers, prolonged rain later in the day.
We spent all day on the road making frequent stops along the way to Boulmalne Dades, but before we left we had a date with a Levailant’s Woodpecker, or so we thought! Standing on the terrace overlooking the River Ourika we notched a few species and we heard the aforementioned Woodpecker in the distance. Blackcaps and Bulbuls, Little Swift and Red-rumped Swallows, Wagtails and Wrens, was all we saw.
The view from te hotel terrace of the river and the Ourika Valley
A walk along the lane produced a few more sightings: Serin, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Hawfinch and all the common species but nothing large and green!
We left the hotel at 8:30am and made a couple of stops along the road to look for the woodpecker, we heard it several times but never very close, so we ended up leaving without a sighting, doh!
Our first planned stop along the journey produced Barbary Partridge, Woodchat Shrike, Common Stonechat, Linnets, Corn Bunting, Magreb Magpie, Sardinian Warbler, Crested and Thekla’s Lark, Greater Short-toed Lark and some rain.
Thekla's Lark
Before we climbed the long and winding road up through the pass we stopped to scan a ridge which often produces migrating raptors. We found four Eurasian Sparrowhawks, a pair of Resident Kestrels and several Booted Eagles. We searched for Bonelli’s Eagle which usually appears in this area and after a short while we had great views of a pair of them.
We put some time on the road and drove for a couple of hours up and over the Pass (2260 meters high) and made a stop for lunch at a roadside café. A short walk in a pine woods after lunch produced nothing except for Wood Pigeons.
Our last stop of the day was on the shore of the huge Barrage El Monsour Eddahbi, it was very windy there, we saw some species but not a lot. Out on the water we saw a few Great Crested Grebes and Cormorants, two Mallards flew by. A couple of Little Egrets sat on the lea-side of an island with three Black-winged Stilts and an Osprey flew over. A single Gull-billed Tern also drifted by.
the huge reservoir at Quarzazate
In the distance we found a small flock of Glossy ibis and a Marsh Harrier, they were all struggling in the wind. Many Hirundines flew around us, Sand Martins, House Martins, Barn Swallows and Red-rumped Swallows. Flocks of Yellow Wagtails battled against the wind with some success and we found a single Sandgrouse, which appeared briefly and was too far off, in bad light, to identify, but most probably Pin-tailed Sandgrouse.
We left the area as it started to rain again, the last 60 minutes of daylight was spent on the road as we drove the final leg to Boulmalne Dades.