SOUS MASSA NATIONAL PARK ALL DAY - WITH A SHORT TRIP TO SIDI WASSAY
WEATHER: brilliant weather today, wall to wall sunshine, a light breeze. It did get hot around 33C in the middle of the day.
What a terrific day we had today, this has to be my most favourite place in Morocco, Sous Massa National Park. We saw 87 species yesterday and we topped that today by recording 95 species, it just shows what a fantastic birding place Sous Massa really is.
After an early breakfast we were on the road before 7am and we reached the entrance track to Sous Massa NP before 8:30. The light was fantastic the temperature just lovely with a light breeze. The track overlooks the river from quite a way up and we quickly logged about 15 species without moving from the spot. I can't remember what order the birds came in but I remember some the best sightings.
a flock of European Bee-eaters were feeding on the opposite bank of the river
Squacco Heron was a first for the trip and two Marbled Duck flew upriver were also new, we all got onto those. Waders, Herons and Egrets with Spoonbills, Ruddy Shelduck, Common Shelduck, Shovelers, Pintail, Little Grebe and Greater Flamingo could be seen down river. In the scrub and bushes alongside the river we found Moussiere's Redstart, Black-corwned Tchagra, Olivaceous Warbler, Blackcaps, Willow Warblers, Spanish Sparrows and Sardinian Warblers.
one of many Turtle Doves seen today, you can his throat puffed-up ready to deliver his turring call
Further down-river we found more waders, our first Common Snipe of the trip, with Black-tailed Godwit, Black-winged stilts, Pied Avocets, Green and Common Sandpiper, Ruff, Greenshank and Little Ringed Plover.
Bruce, our raptor-man was in good form today after being ill yesterday. He found a couple of Ospreys, a couple of Montagu's Harriers, a Booted Eagle, but it was Sue who found the Black Stork and two Common Ravens.
Black-winged Stilt landing - taken by Rob Parsons
Near a large sand bar there were twenty plus Spoonbills, a few Flamingos, Ruddy Shelduck, lots of Shovelers and three BLUE-WINGED TEALS. Wowza! Northern Amercian ducks in Morocco, a great find and a lifer for most of the group.
one of our first birds today - Squacco Heron
We continued along the track and visited two viewing platforms, it was getting quite warm by then and the shelter was much appreciated. We watched the Ospreys fishing and had good close views of Black-crowned Tchagra and Mousierre's Rdstart, we also saw Linnets, Serins and Sardinian Warblers. One or two of the group saw Barbary Partridge and we noted Common Swift, Barn Swallows, House Martin and a large flock of Glossy Ibis headed down river.
Black-crowned Tchagra
Mousierre's Redstart, a female
Mousierre's Redstart, male
The return journey wasn't so eventful, I think we had cleaned-up, as we approached the car park Bruce stopped to watch a Marsh Harrier come down to the riverside, I joined him and the others went on. As we began walking again Bruce looked up and saw a swirling mass of Ibis, they were BALD IBIS, we counted thirty two of them the others in the group we a bit miffed when we told them.
five of the group having a rest on the way back
We drove into town to buy lunch and then we drove down to the bridge over the river on the road to Sidi Wassay to eat it. There we found five Marbled Ducks, feeding upriver, we saw several Western Yellow Wagtails, Iberiae, flava and Flavissimo. But the main target bird the Plain Martin or Brown-throated Martin did not appear at first.
Plain Martin with four Barn Swallow fledglings
Then, as if by magic the Plain Martin showed up, we watched several of them, also a House Martin and more Swallows, we even watched the Plain Martin settled on a bush with some Barn Swallows. Other birds seen were Spoonbill, Squacco Heron, Little Grebe, Moorhen, Turtle Dove and Common Kestrel.
Euraisan Spoonbill
We were now in the hottest part of the day so we drove up over the hill to the beach at Sidi Wassay, a cool breeze came off the sea which was nice. We scanned the area for Bald Ibis but none were flying. We saw Gannets out to sea, a Whimbrel on the rocks, White Wagtails, Spotless Starlings, Common Kestrel, House Bunting and Common Bulbuls in the car park and surrounding buildings.
our target bird at Sidi Wassay
On the way back we stopped on the crest of the hill to scan the surounding 'desert heath' we found Northern and Black-eared Wheatears, Woodchat and Great Grey Shrike, Subalpine Warbler and to our great delight a single Bald Ibis fed on the heath. It was quite distant and heat-haze didn't help but we 'scoped it and everyone got to see one on the ground.
Black-eared Wheatear
For our last last birding excursion we were dropped of at the start of a track that led across the cultivated fields back to the river, it was 4pm and much cooler with a lovely breeze. We had a great time watching dozens of species having close encouners with Western Yellow Wagtails, Zitting Cisticolas, Crested Larks, Corn Buntings, Mousierre's Redstart, Common Redstart, Tree Pipits, Turtle Doves and many more.
Crested Lark
Corn Bunting
Iberian Yellow Wagtail
Tawny Pipit
We found an obliging Tawny Pipit, we heard Common Quail and with a bit of patience we saw one out in the open, found by Bruce who was having a terrific day.
Common Quail taken by Rob Parsons
We got back to the bus at 5pm and called it day, the drive back to Agadir took over an hour becuase of the Friday Traffic. We enjoyed a delicious dinner at the hotel, the food had been excellent throughout our stay here. The bird log showed our species count at 95, what a great day we had had!