TRANSFER TO MERZOUGA AT ERG CHEBBI SAND DUNES – WITH STOPS AT TAGDILT TRACK – WADI IMITER – GOULMIMI WADI – OUED GHERIS
WEATHER: wall to wall sunshine all day, nice breeze, perfect! Temp 10C - 25C
We were all packed and loaded onto the bus by 8am and after saying goodbye to our hosts we departed Boumalne Dades and headed for the desert region around Merzouga. The usual ‘garden’ birds were present: White-crowned Wheatear, House Bunting, African Blue Tit, Blackcap, Bonelli’s and Subalpine Warbler. A marsh harrier flew over and was seen by some of the group.
The Plain Tiger Butterfly - many were seen today
Before we left the Boumalne area we had unfinished business with the Thick-billed Lark! So, we went to the rubbish tip on the Tagdilt Track for a second visit, we were hopeful of success but you never know! After an hour of searching we gave up and conceded defeat, the Lark was not going on the list today! However, during our time at the tip we saw some great birds and really enjoyed our birding, it’s not all about finding the ‘special’ ones.
We found all the usual suspects: Desert, White-crowned and Red-rumped Wheatears, Thekla Larks, Short-toed Larks, Temminck's Lark, dozens of Yellow Wagtails and White Wagtail. To our great delight we also found three Red-throated Pipits, they were distant but one of them had the red colouring of summer plumage, a nice find by Bruce, he had already found our first Hoopoe of the trip as we travelled to the tip.
After finding a single Black Kite earlier we went on to see quite a few more, they must have been coming from a roost site in the hills and drifting over the plains to gain height on the thermals, they kept on coming. We counted 105 before we gave up, still more came over!
Our next stop was at a well-known site for Pharaoh Eagle Owl, in a Wadi about 10Km further east form Boumalne Dades. A local guy met us on arrival and led us down into the wadi and straight to a nest site of a Lanner Falcon. A bird was sitting on the nest, we kept our distance, eventually the bird flew up and circled overhead, it then perched on the cliff top in full view, wowza!
Lanner Falcon sitting on its nest - digi-scoped from quite a distance
Lanner Falcon
A long walk along the bed of the wadi was required to see the Pharaoh Eagle Owl, we stopped to watch Desert Wheatear, Seebohm Wheatear (aka Atlas or Black-throated Wheatear), Trumpeter Finch and Desert Lark.
Atlas Wheatear (Seebohm) this was taken last year by Tony Moore
The owls stood out in full view, the adult birds with three chicks of varying sizes, they were amazing and didn’t bat an eyelid at our presence far below them. To top our good fortune a male Magreb Wheatear put in an appearance, that wrapped up our Wheatear tally with 8 species on the list.
The Male Magreb Wheatear
how cute are they - Paraoh Eagle Owl with three chicks
We put some time in on the road and arrived at Goulmimi at 12:30pm and after buying picnic supplies in town we drove up onto the stony plains just east of town. We ate our lunch and then walked another wadi, this one had clumps of vegetation with thorn bushes dotted around. Butterflies were everywhere, we noted many Plain Tigers, Painted Ladies, Swallowtail, African Grass blue, Greenish Black-tip, Clouded Yellow and several species of ‘white’ butterflies. Birds were also coming thick and fast: we found our first Common Whitethroat, also Spectacled Warbler, Subalpine Warbler, Bonelli’s Warbler, Great Grey and Woodchat Shrikes and a Wryneck.
Desert Wheatear
Our main target bird was the Streaked Scrub Warbler, a difficult species to find without putting in some leg-work. We walked a couple of kilometers before turning back, not quite defeated but almost. It was Sue that changed our fortunes when she found not one, not two, but four Streaked Scrub Warblers, a terrific find. We enjoyed them for a few minutes before they went off on a feeding forage.
Scrub Warbler
As we got back to the bus we had sightings of three Desert Larks, a group of five Crowned Sandgrouse flew over and we watched a nice pair of Desert Wheatears. We left the area and headed for the next town on our route, Erfoud.
Bibron's Agama Lizard we saw several of these in the Eagle Owl Wadi
One more stop was made along the way to Erfoud, at a bridge over the Oued Ghris, the river wasn’t flowing but large pools were spaced along the river bed. We saw very little, but we added Willow Warbler to the list and heard another Reed Warbler. A white-crowned Wheatear was the sum-total of other species.
The Erg Chebbi Dune system at 6pm today
For the next two hours we drove to Erfoud and onto the Erg Chebbi dune system where our hotel was located. We arrived at 6:30pm with enough time to shower and get ready for dinner, which was delicious. The Eagle Owl was voted bird of the day.