Morocco: The Desert

While the Tagdilt had been a success on our own, the Erg Chebbi area would require some professional assistance. The Egyptian Nightjar and Desert Sparrow are extremely local so would require visiting two separate farms with 4x4 access, while the Pharaoh Eagle-owl cliffs in Rissani was notoriously tricky to find and the up-to-date sandgrouse watering hole was a similar situation.

We met up with our guide Lahcen Ouacha (al-hassan82@hotmail.com / +212 671146336) a little later than expected due to some prolonged tagine enjoyment, in Rissani under the "town arch" based solely on a photo he had sent me on whatsapp. Communication had been a bit dodgy, us not having agreed on a price (not sure if it was the lack of English/French or poor wifi reception during our correspondence). In any case, we found him no problem and were soon on our way to the Pharaoh's cliffs, albeit his disappointment that we were about an hour late. And it turns out his french is excellent so no problem for me and Dom although we had to repeat everything for Steve.

Our guide Lahcen

Despite our lateness, Lahcen's eagle eye soon spotted the bird way up high a bit further down the cliff, much to our relief and be-wonderment.

The cliff

Pharaoh Eagle-owl!

We had no idea where were we were going that night but Lahcen said it was all taken care of so we put our trust in him and off we went toward the edge of the Sahara, Merzhouga and our mysterious accommodation. 

Turns out he was taking us to Augerge du Sud, a kinda mid-range place on the edge of Erg Chebi (dune system on the edge of the Sahara). The place was a bit pricey (35 euros each) for a crash-pad, but hey, it was quite an experience! They had an ensemble of traditional Berber music around a campfire in the evening and we delighted in a nice variety of traditional foods while there which I have to say were a highlight of the trip. I would definitely recommend this place. 

But we did not enjoy too much, as we had some sleep to catch up on and a big day tomorrow. Lahcen would take us way into the desert in a 4x4 which we rented from the auberge. We were ripping through the dunes headed toward a special spot where 3 species of sandgrouse fly in from up to 40 miles away to get their daily drink of water from a puddle of water no bigger than 2x5 m that resulted from a leaky pipe underground. We could hear the faint sounds of sandgrouse in the distance, getting ever closer. Then around 10 am as predicted we could see a few bands of 10-20 flying around and landing in the distance. After a few minutes, a few Spotted Sandgrouse tentatively scuttled in for a drink then flew off. But as time went on, more and more came until they were coming in throngs, bustling and making quite a ruckus as they drank and bathed, soaking their breast feathers in water in classic sandgrouse fashion. The scarcer Crowned Sandgrouse appeared later, as if it had it's own designated time to drink and soon they had repaced the Spotteds. Then with great excitement, just as the Sandgrouse mayhem was climaxing, we spotted someone else way in the distance. The highly anticipated Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, a female, one of only two that ever visits this watering hole according to Lahcen. She was so smokin' hot we thought she was a male until we looked her up in the book. The Sandgrouse spectacle is one of the great spectacles of nature we felt lucky to have experienced. 

Here come the Spotted Sandgrouse in numbers

Our rage-o-meters were coming up on 7

Here come the Crowned Sandgrouse

The Crowned Sandgrouse landed nearby and tentatively scuttled over for heir precious drink

Spotted and Crowned Sandgrouse filling up together

Pin-tailed Sandgrouse: rage-o-meter 8!!!

Still high on sandgrouse, we rampaged over dunes on our 4x4 toward a remote farm where a pair of Desert Sparrows were nesting. These guys used to be common back in the day. When the area got more developed with tourism, the habitat favoured the more aggressive House Sparrow which out-competed its desert cousin, relegating it to more remote outposts. Luckily for us, there are still a few spots left for them and we were soon onto a nesting pair in a palm tree on someone's farm, a testament to the value of local knowledge of a guide.

Desert Sparrow

Desert Sparrow

Our thirst for Desert Sparrow has been quenched

Next, we drove to some seemingly random desert track with a few patches of scrub scattered about. Seemingly random, but not. Lahcen had taken us to a very particular spot with a Desert Warbler territory. We called in a sprightly male with almost no effort. 

Look at this guy hiding under that tiny bush!

Desert Warbler - a beautiful songster

Next, he took us to another farm. We were passing through prime Houbara Bustard habitat, but unfortunately the middle-eastern falconers had wiped them all out. We even saw a massive compound where a bunch of these rich bastards were camped out in the desert. I guess they had to come all the way over to Morocco to do their bustard-falconing because they killed all their MacQueen's Bustards back in Quatar or wherever. Hopefully the Moroccan government will protect the Houbara soon. 

The farm was a magnificent oasis, but not in the sense that most people imagine. It was really a couple arid rows of tamarisks and some shrubs and a fairly sad looking example of cultivation but hey, they seemed to be making it work so we had to give it to them for making a living all the way out here where life to us seems impossible, although I'd be willing to bet they make more on tips from birders than from cultivation. 

A little water tap attracted trumpeter finches but they were far too skitish for my sniper or Steve's bazooka but I did manage this angry-looking Subalpine Warbler. A few other migrants were found around the farm, and oh, did I mention...Egyptian Nightjars? 

What are Subalpines angry about?

Egyptian Nightjar

We settled in for another night of Berber cuisine and a quick swim in the pool before one last morning with our guide.

Next morning, Lahcen took us to another seemingly but not at all random desert track which was a dry wash with a bit more scrub than the desert warbler spot, for the aptly named Scrub Warbler. Splitting up was our strategy, and it took about an hour to find this little guy running from bush to bush like a miniature thrasher. I called the others over but within seconds the thing had vanished into thin air! However, we re-located it after a while (and possibly a second one), hardly managing a half-second view before the thing flew into a further bush. Eventually, we realized that was all we were gonna get and left stoked from seeing this often-missed species. 

Nearby, Lahcen took us into some super-arid rocky hillsides to seek out he Desert Lark. We did not find it, but did find something not expected - hundreds of squid! Well, fossils of squid, nautiloids from 300 million years ago when this place used to be a sea. The rocks seemed ordinary until Lahcen poured water on them, revealing the specimens distributed all over the rock face. Then a man called to us from way up in the hills over a km away, rushing over to us to greet us ("bonjour!!") and sell us some trinkets. I told him we were searching for birds and to please not disturb us as it would scare the birds, but Steve indulged and I think acquired some more rocks for his collection. This left us wondering: we must have been like 50 km from the nearest habitation so how the hell did that man get all the way out here and where did he come from? 

Nautiloid fossil

Dipping on the lark, we decided there was one bird we could not afford to miss and that was the Fulvous Babbler. We'd tried already once and this was our last chance. Eventually with much calling from the Archer speakers, we got super lucky and a whole family group flew in from deep in the palms and landed on an irrigation barrier, sitting in plain view for us to bask in their Fulvous glory. 

Fulvous Babblers

We said goodbye to Lahcen and made sure to pay him, a fee which we decided based on internet reports and which he accepted without negotiation; he seemed pretty happy with what we offered and we were certainly thrilled with his services. I would definitely recommend him for finding hard-to-get species.