I was told by friends that Tagdilt Track is the place to go for birding and its probably the best known birding site in Morocco for desert loving birds like larks and wheatears! But what they didn’t tell me is Tagdilt Track is actually a dumpster site…! @__@” When I got out of the vehicle, I was immediately surrounded by flies, and I tried to keep my mouth shut…you know, just in case. Indeed there were quite a lot of birds seen here, all new to me…but its really not easy to walk on a rubbish valley on a bright sunny day; the smell, the heat and flies really got on my nerves!
Anyway, here are some of the wheatears seen along Tagdilt Track! From left- Black Eared Wheatear, Mourning Wheatear, Red-Rumped Wheatear and the Black Wheatear and there is also the Desert Wheatear!
Black Eared Wheatear, Mourning Wheatear, Red-Rumped Wheatear, Black Wheatear
Desert Wheatear
At the Tagdilt Track, there is no shortage of Temminck’s Lark! I just love their devilish horns, and I immediately compared the length of their “horns” to those of Horned Lark! Other larks seen include the Thekla Lark , Crested Lark, Hoopoe Lark and Thick Billed Lark! Its a delight to see them, but its also makes me sad to see them rummage through the dumpster site…
Temminck’s Lark
Thekla Lark and Thick Billed Lark
Crested lark and Hoopoe lark
Seeing a flock of Trumpeter Finches was a nice surprise! Note that their calls don’t sound anything like a trumpet! Here’s how they sound like! http://www.xeno-canto.org/browse.php?species_nr=&query=trumpeter+finch
It was pretty hard to get a decent photo of these Trumpeter Finches as they move swiftly from bush to bush! Another highlight was seeing a Black Bellied Sandgrouse!
trumpeter finch
black bellied sandgrouse
Now, where’s that Cream Colored Courser I was bound to see??? >.<“
