Leaving the Sahara area of Morocco, we had a couple of days of long driving ahead of us heading westward towards the coast with short stops. Again, there was some stunning scenery along the way, so different from the countryside I'm used to in Britain!
At one stop, I managed to capture a male Sardinian Warbler which is reasonably common in Morocco.
We ended a long day in the van at Ouarzazate where we were to stop for the night. Fortunately there is large reservoir there so we did a bit of birding before settling down for the night. You can tell which is my scope! (-:
One of the bad things that we discovered during our trip here was the amount of rubbish lying around almost everywhere, even in remote locations. Unfortunately this sometimes became attached to birds. Here's a White Stork with a rubbish bag attached to its leg. Obviously it was still able to fly, but it's got to cause some deaths I'm sure!
The next day we set off on another long drive to reach Taroudant. On the way we stopped off briefly at a famous film studio out here. Lawrence of Arabia was filmed there I believe. We had a bit of fun with the statues! (-:
There was some relief from the stark but beautiful landscape in the way of early Almond blossom.
Here are some of the local ladies collecting firewood. A hard life!
A Common Bulbul perched on top of some Prickly Pear cactus.
Another male Sardinian Warbler on one of our short stops to stretch legs.
On another of our leg stretching stops, we caught up with one of our target species for the trip. The Black-crowned Tchagra. A lovely and normally skulking bird. This one showed quite well enough for me to get a couple of quick shots.
Finally, we made it to Taroudant and our wonderful hotel Palais Salam (one of our favourites of the trip). I'm not normally a pink kind of gal, but this place was amazing, so I forgive it the colour! (-:
As we were gazing out from our balcony in the photo above, some White Storks came flying over. The light was going fast, so it's not the best of shots.
Part five will follow shortly.
4 comments:
More wonderful shots! They really look great when you click to make them larger. You saw a lot of great birds on this trip.
Jenny I see teeny you and there is someBODY else just as teeny. I didn't think it possible. Sad about the birds and the rubbish. Such different birds you treat us to. I am not a pink kind of gal either but one of my favorite resort hotels is pink here in the states. The Don Cesar in Florida. The Almond blossoms are beautiful!
Hi Jenny, I was thinking how the landscape looks dramatic and impressive but how much I would miss our trees when up popped the lovely Almond blossom :-)
I enjoyed seeing the different birds especially the pretty Black-crowned Tchagra. It was fun seeing everyone playing statues too ;-)
Hi Mary, we did indeed see some wonderful birds. We usually play a game of 'bird of the day' and 'bird of the trip' where everyone has to give their thoughts. That's fun at the end of the day.
Hi Jan, yes, the Almond blossom was a great relief from the stark landscapes. When we got to the coast, there were more trees and shrubs around. I'm glad you enjoyed our bit of sillyness! (-:
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