We left Lahcen around 11 am knowing we had probably an 11 hour drive ahead of us if were to reach the coast by morning. Not the most ecological way of birding but with our tight schedule imposed by life, it was the only day we would have to find the Ibis. Of course we made a few select stops along the way, picking up Blue-cheecked Bee-eater, Laughing Dove, displaying Hoopoe-Lark and amazingly, Desert Lark! We spotted two larks dart across the highway in prime habitat, pulled over and scoped them. AAAAHHHHHH!!!
We passed through the super-cool walled city of Taroudant which looked really cool at night so we popped in hoping to find accomodation described in the Berger birdfinding guide. This turned out to be a horrible idea as it was difficult to find the described hotel and the streets were super narrow and Dom ended up backing up into a gravel pile while executing a 6-point. As fate would have it, there was already a dent there from the previous driver so we never paid for damage. We decided enough was enough and got back on the highway, deciding to push all the way to Agadir despite some hard fatigue setting in. Anyway, we spotted the "Hotel Ibis" on Dom's MapsMe app and decided it would be good luck for us. That was one of the most comfortable sleeps in my life albeit too short!
The target area was Tamri, a river mouth with surrounding coastal scrub that was riveted with ebird sightings of the ibis. "We should start looking for the Ibis" I said. Minutes later, Dom epically spotted a whole flock of 19 Bald Ibis down in a valley next to the road! RAGEOMETER 9!!!
I mean, wow, look at those bald freaks walking around. They were picking lizards out of the bushes then flying off with the thing wriggling around in their massive beaks. What a terrifying experience from the lizards' point of view. I mean, these things look scary enough to us! How about a closer look...
We could see them moving in a certain direction, so we planted ourselves in a depression next to the road and waited. Two Bald Ibises walked right past us! We kept perfectly still, but when they saw us they sort of walked away and kept their distance as they seem to be fairly wary.
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| Black-eared Wheatear |
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| Southern Grey Shrike |
With that one out of the way, we birded freely along the coastal cliffs and in the scrub, picking up Black-eared Wheatear, long-overdue Moussier's Redstart, Northern Gannet, and Southern Gray Shrike, Auduin's and Slender-billed Gull, Sardinian Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Moroccan White Wagtail and Ruddy Shellduck (by the river mouth). Pallid and Common Swifts swarmed in great numbers off the cliff, giving us an opportunity to experiment with our camera settings. We did not realize until later that the super-similar Plain Swift winters along this coastline (Breeding only in Canary Islands), although I'm pretty sure we didn't see any since we would have picked out anything different.
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| Pallid Swift |
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| Common Swifts |
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| Northern Gannets migrating north |
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| Little Ringed Plover |
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| Photo: Steve Pike |
Overwhelmed by the beauty of nature all around me and by the unstoppable conveyor belt of lifers, I threw myself into the frigid Atlantic, then sprinted down the beach, feeling the firm sand on my uncalloused feet. I exalted to God for bestowing upon me so many great sensations that nature has to offer.
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| AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! |
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| Dominic reveled in the scene of euphoria |
With only 2 full days left, it was to the mountains!
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