After an unfortunate false start to the Moroccan leg of our travels in November 2024, we decided to have another go. This time we would fly into Marrakech, something I've done many times before on birding trips, but this time we would concentrate on the cities and finally tick off some of the remaining UNESCO World Heritage sites we'd previously not seen. As such we would not be seeing a lot of the more iconic birds of the region, that are associated with the deserts and mountains, but there are always some opportunities to see wildlife, especially as we would be spending much of the trip by the coast.
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| Koutoubia Mosque, Marrakech |
After two nights in Marrakech we took the train to El Jadida, via Casablanca, for two nights in the historic Portuguese walled medina. From here another train journey via Casablanca took us to the capital, Rabat, for another two night stay. We then took the four hour "Marrakech Express" and a three hour bus for three nights in the pretty coastal fortified town and medina of Essaouira. We had one final night in Marrakech before our return flight, making a total of 10 nights away.
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| El Jadida |
Part of the attraction of this trip was the prospect of warmer, sunnier weather, especially as it had been particularly wet in the UK. However, after a few days of expected sunny warm days and chilly nights, it became increasingly cool and wet, ending 7 years of drought in the country. Resulting flooding sadly proved fatal for some people in the coastal town of Safi, between Essaouira and El Jadida. We felt very grateful to be spared the worst of the weather.
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| Essaouira's Small Island |
Marrakech
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| Sunrise over the High Atlas from Marrakech |
The first morning in Marrakech I watched the sunrise from the rooftop balcony of our riad with House Buntings and Common Bulbuls singing all around. Common birds but great to watch and photograph. In the evening here we watched up to 40 Little Swifts come down to roost.
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| Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto |
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| Common Bulbul Pycnonotus barbatus |
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| House Bunting Emberiza sahari |
From the train north to Casablanca a Little Owl, Western Cattle Egret, White Stork, 7 Glossy Ibis, Black Redstart and a Great Grey Shrike.
El Jadida
At El Jadida the main interest was the gulls. There were a large number of wintering Lesser Black-backed Gulls forming sizeable roosts into the thousands around the port area and on the beaches. Other species were much less numerous with up to 120 Black-headed Gull, 13 Mediterranean Gull and only 2 or 3 Yellow-legged Gulls. A big surprise was when a first-winter Glaucous Gull flew past and I was able to follow it until it settled distantly allowing a record shot. Despite a lot of effort over the next day or so, I was unable to relocate it. Probably the 26th record for Morocco and only the 16th documented.
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| 1st winter Glaucous Gull Larus Hyperboreus |
I found several colour ringed gulls here. All Lesser Black-backed as follows:
Unmarked blue left tibia + red right tibia 5Z - ringed as a pullus 30/6/2024 Maasvlakte, NL
Red left tarsus K23:D - ringed 2017 in Dublin.
Blue left tarsus unclear but probably S.?0N - matching a Belgian project but no further details.
Waders around the port area were Grey Plover, Ringed Plover, Whimbrel, Common Sandpiper, Common Redshank and Turnstone. Up to 6 Sandwich Terns past and a similar number of Great Cormorant, although these did not seem to show the characteristics of the maroccanus race. A lot of Egrets lingered around the port area, scavenging around the docks and restaurants, with up to 53 Little Egret, 5 Western Cattle Egret and 3 Grey Heron.
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| Western Cattle Egret Ardea ibis |
Other birds in the port area were up to 6 Barn Swallow, a Common Kestrel, 2 Common Chiffchaff, 25 Spotless Starling, 1 Black Redstart, 5 House Sparrow, 1 White Wagtail and 3 House Bunting.
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| Spotless Starling Sturnus unicolor |
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| House Bunting Emberiza sahari |
While waiting at the station on the edge of the town for the train to Rabat, it was clear that there were many thousands of gulls using the large rubbish dump further inland, along with at least 12 White Storks and 26 Jackdaws. Also at/near the station were 4 Zitting Cisticola, 2 Crested Lark, 1 Barn Swallow, 4 Sardinian Warbler, 8 Spotless Starling, 1 Blackbird, 1 Greenfinch, 1 House Bunting, 1 Common Kestrel and at least 1 Marsh Harrier.
Rabat
Birding was surprisingly good in the capital. The river and shoreline held waders; 1 Grey Plover, 6 Ringed Plover, 2 Whimbrel, 1 Common Sandpiper, 73 Turnstone, 17 Sanderling. Also 2 maroccanus Cormorants, 1 Sandwich Tern, 3 Little Egret, 2 Cattle Egret and 1 Grey Heron.
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| Moroccan Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo maroccanus |
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| Common Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula |
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| Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres |
The gardens also held a few insects.
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| Lamenting Grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans |
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| Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria aegeria |
Once again gulls proved interesting with 2 Mediterranean Gulls among the more numerous Black-headed Gulls, a few Yellow-legged Gulls and more Lesser Black-backed Gulls, including two more colour ringed birds:
Green left tarsus N:8J2 - ringed in the nest at Carlisle 16/7/2025 and read at Coibra, Portugal on 27/10.
Blue right tarsus V.HX9 - ringed in Denmark in 2010.
In the town and around the walls and gardens we encountered the only Woodpigeon of the trip, 2 Collared Dove, 1 Common Kestrel, 22 Jackdaw, 2 Common Bulbul, 3 Common Chiffchaff, 10 Spotless Starling, 1 Blackbird, 2 Black Redstart, 2 Stonechat, 2 House Sparrow and 3 House Bunting.
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| European Stonechat Saxicola rubicola |
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| Common Woodpigeon Columba palumbus |
Essaouira
A direct four hour train journey from Rabat to Marrakech, where the main bird interest was around the Casablanca area. There is a huge Cattle Egret roost next to the railway line near Casa Voyageur station and noted 7 Glossy Ibis just to the north of the city. The remainder of the trip was by 3 hour connecting bus, which provided the only Maghreb Magpies of the trip, with 8 along the P2006 road west of Marrakech.
The third rocky port town of the trip and another change in the make up of the gulls. Here Yellow-legged Gull dominated, with at least 400, and only smaller numbers of Lesser Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls. I was unable to locate any colour-ringed birds.
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| Yellow-legged (Atlantic) Gull Larus michahellis atlantis |
Our accommodation had a high vantage point where some seawatching was possible and this produced 1 Arctic Skua south, 17 Sandwich Tern south and a count of 77 Gannet south in 90 minutes one afternoon, not including more distant feeding birds. Also on the shoreline were 9 Oystercatcher, 3 Grey Plover, 3 Ringed Plover, 1 Whimbrel, 2 Common Sandpiper, 20 Turnstone, 2 Knot, 73 Sanderling (on the sandy beach just north of the port), 3 Cormorants, 1 Spoonbill, 1 Little Egret and 2 Grey Heron. There were also Common Bulbul, Common Chiffchaff, Spotless Starling, House Sparrow and House Bunting around the port.
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| Sanderling Calidris alba |
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| Little Egret Egretta garzetta |
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| Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia |
I made one fairly short visit to the Reserve Naturelle on the edge of the town inland where a few freshwater pools and a lot of scrub attracted a little more variety. 1 Garganey, 8 Shoveler, 9 Mallard, 5 Moorhen, 4 Black-winged Stilt, 3 Common Redshank, 2 Common Kestrel, 3 Barn Swallow, 2 Sardinian Warbler, 1 Blackbird, 25 House Sparrow, 1 White Wagtail, 2 African Chaffinch and 3 House Bunting.
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| Garganey Spatula querquedula |
Another fabulous sighting here was this tiny Half-edged Wall Jumping Spider which crept out next to us as we ate on a rooftop restaurant overlooking the main square.
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| Half-edged Wall Jumping Spider Menemerus semilimbatus |
Finally a Great Grey Shrike on the main road and a few Maghreb Magpies on the outskirts seen from the bus returning to Marrakech.
