A 1h30 session at Oued Souss didn't yield much but it was the first time I used binos on the field (had to use my camera all the time before as I didn't have binos) so it was still very fun:
29/02/2020 (Oued Souss, Morocco)
BIRDS:
74 - Eurasian spoonbill, Platalea leucorodia
75 - Eurasian oystercatcher, Haematopus ostralegus
76 - Common greenshank, Tringa nebularia
77 - Eurasian whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus
While I was in Spain, a very rare bird (for Morocco) was reported about 170km away from my home city: namely the 7th record of Laughing gull for the country. I wanted to go twitch it as soon as I arrived back here but as I have no car, and thus have to rely on people picking me up, no opportunity presented itself until today.
I deemed my chances of seeing it pretty slim because it had been nearly a month since it was reported and it was seen roosting near hundreds of gulls so the search for it would probably prove to be very hard but there was still a lot to see in the city it was reported at (Essaouira) that could potentially warrant a 3 hour drive round trip on one of the worst roads I know and better try than not I guess?
Well, that turned out to be not such a bad decision...
08/03/2020 (Road from Agadir to Essaouira, Morocco)
BIRDS:
78 - Northern bald ibis, Geronticus eremita
79 - Common house-martin, Delichon urbicum
80 - Red-rumped swallow, Cecropis daurica
81 - Black wheatear, Oenanthe leucura
82 - Woodchat shrike, Lanius senator
(Oued Ksob, Morocco)
83 - Western yellow wagtail, Motacilla flava
84 - Little ringed plover, Charadrius dubius
85 - Slender-billed gull, Larus genei
86 - Eurasian coot, Fulica atra
87 - Little grebe, Tachybaptus ruficollis
88 - Sedge warbler, Acrocephalus schoenobaenus
89 - Sanderling, Calidris alba
90 - Northern shoveler, Anas clypeata
91 - Ruddy shelduck, Tadorna ferruginea
92 - Ruddy turnstone, Arenaria interpres
93 - Kentish plover, Charadrius alexandrinus
94 - Black-tailed godwit, Limosa limosa
(Port d'Essaouira, Morocco)
95 - Laughing gull, Leucophaeus atricilla
(Road from Essaouira to Agadir, Morocco)
96 - Northern raven, Corvus corax
HERPS:
(Road from Essaouira to Agadir, Morocco)
2 - Greek tortoise, Testudo graeca
(Oued Ksob, Morocco)
3 - Spiny-footed lizard, Acanthodactylus erythrurus
INVERTS:
(Oued Ksob, Morocco)
2 - Painted lady, Vanessa cardui
Made two stops: one at Oued Ksob to check if the gull hadn't moved from its original position but also to get all the local species I had been missing and then the real "twitching" spot at Essaouira's fishing harbour. The first yielded 46 species of birds in just an hour, which is my second biggest total at a single location ever and included a very awaited lifer.
The second stop was much more stressful as there were gulls everywhere and trying to get one of out hundreds is hard, especially as similar looking Mediterranean gulls were flying far away. Only got the gull at the very end, as I was about to give up!
All-in-all, an amazing day capped off by my second ever "countable" vagrant, another lifer and in general some amazing fauna with 59 species of birds seen in the day including 19 new species for my yearlist!
