A friend had already warned me...'watch out for cars and motorbikes without lights on the wrong side of the road coming toward you..and cyclists....and roundabouts can be interesting....'
Its probably best said that its a driving experience. Oddly they rarely seem to speed, keeping to the speed limit or less....the Police being hot on speeding but...er...not seeming to care if anyone drives in the wrong direction....hmmm...
With all that in mind I was hoping to get to the place we were staying before it got dark....of course this didn't work out and yes, after leaving the airport in the hire car I hadn't got far before there was a cyclist coming toward me, no lights....once you get used to these little foibles everything is ok. Just join in!!
We had a house north of Agadir....on the beach at Tamraght. Once you are off the main road though, don't expect tarmac. Dirt roads were mostly the order of the day to a lot of houses.
Too far north for some birds....hmmm...so...its make of it what I will....
Lets start with what was in the garden.....hard to be unimpressed with a Southern Grey Shrike that came in to drink from the pool, as did many birds...
Southern Grey Shrike
And a Black-crowned Tchagra too.....
Black-crowned Tchagra
A visitor to the breakfast table for crumbs was this Common Bulbul....
Common Bulbul
Common Bulbul
An almost Spotless Starling...
Spotless Starling
Relaxing by the pool....regular visitors were the local House Sparrows...
House Sparrow
Birding was limited as usual by the 'family holiday' label. But I did manage to get out most mornings and a few evenings locally. I also did a couple of early morning trips to the Oued Sous.
The local spot was a dry river bed with quite reasonable habitat either side. A short walk and it was possible to climb some of the hills inland. On one occasion I came across a Wild Boar.
One of the first birds I came across along the river bed...
Woodchat Shrike...!
This was the only siting I had, which was a bit of a shame....a life tick for me over in a few seconds...but birds are birds...
Upstream, if there was a stream to be up, lorries filled with water to deliver to houses....plenty of spillage provided a watering hole for many birds and was a good spot to watch for a while...one bird I heard just about everywhere I went and saw plenty of....
Turtle Dove
A local breeding bird that I could watch from the roof terrace was this rather fabulous Stone Curlew...a walk out one evening past their nesting spot and up on to the nearest hi
Stone Curlew
A trip out the Paradise Falls, which weren't falling too much but did provide a rather marvellous splash pool opportunity. It was freeeeeeezing cold water though....! Unlike the pool and the sea which was much better!
Whilst there I came across this year tick...
Spotted Flycatcher
As some people know I'm rather fond of Wheatears....having added Black Wheatear last year I was hoping to add another species this year....being too far north for Dessert Wheatear....the magnificent bird that eventually showed was this....
Black-eared Wheatear
Black-eared Wheatear
A bird I found local to the houses around where we lived was the colourful...
House Bunting
Laughing Dove....once you hear them their name becomes pretty obvious...a little elusive around the local houses but would occasionally turn up....and coloured beautifully which, sadly, isn't done that much justice by my photo....
Laughing Dove
A couple of early morning trips to the Oued Sous certainly paid off....but a word of warning...be prepared for the smell....they discharge straight in to the river and sea in places....and its rather smelly...
Its also easy to get to by car which was a bonus. Lots of birders seem to head toward the area for Stone Curlew by the Royal Palace....but my experience showed that they are around, I saw them in several places.
The easier way, rather than approaching along the Agadir seafront, is to head along the N10 and look out for the Golf du Soleil sign in the Inezgane area....then just follow the road till you come to the barrier where there are some guards, theres a large parking area on the left at this point and you can wander along the river to the sea....though if you ask the guards will tell you not to encroach toward the palace....as they have guns I wouldn't argue with them either....!!
The two trips provided different birds and both excursions to the river was well worth it...
Heres a bird that turns up here in the UK on occasion and in reality you only have to day trip tot he Calais area to see them....but along the river....I came across at least 50 and more spread along the river......
Black-winged Stilt
...I reckon they look great, one of the most handsome of waders....
Magpie....no...not just a Magpie....these guys were numerous along the river but hard to find in other areas....
Blue-cheeked Magpie
A fabulous sight was that of round 60 or so Greater Flamingos flying over, wheeling round and then heading back up river....I found them on the second visit feeding further up stream.....
I only came across Bee-eaters on two occasions, this first occasion was on the opposite bank of the river, quite distant....the second time, on another day and different location, when I found 2 birds...
Bee-eater
Gull-billed Tern on the left, Sandwich Terns right
Gull-billed Tern, Sandwich Tern, Common Tern, Little Tern
The tide was out....way out...
The last species I recorded along the river....Osprey....
Osprey
I did make the visit to Tamri, further north, for Bald Ibis, but failed to find them north of the village. The other bird I really wanted but failed on was Moussiers Redstart. This species seems to be just anywhere, some reports say look in certain habitats, other people have seen them on Agadir seafront. Maybe next time.....
Heres the full list of birds I saw....it could have been much longer if it had been a birding holiday....but there are plenty of life (in blue) and year ticks (purple) to be going on with.....
Kestrel (first bird seen once I got off the plane) (common), Feral Pigeon (common),
Spotless Starling (common), House Sparrow (common), Collared Dove (common),
Turtle Dove(common), Blackbird, Barn Swallow, Black-crowned Tchagra, Stone Curlew,
Southern Grey Shrike, Common Bulbul (common), Yellow-legged Gull, Pallid Swift,
White-breasted Cormorant, Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Crested Lark (common),
Little Swift (common), Blue-cheeked Magpie, House Martin, House Bunting,
Olivaceous Warbler, Great Tit, Spotted Flycatcher, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Grey Wagtail,
Thekla Lark, Audouins Gull, Laughing Dove, Black-eared Wheatear, Black-winged Stilt,
Mallard, Sandwich Tern (common), Slender-billed Gull, Whimbrel, Curlew, Zitting Cisticola,
Mediterranean Gull, European Bee-eater, Common Tern, Sanderling, Dunlin, Grey Heron,
Little Tern, Whiskered Tern, Gull-billed Tern, Marbled Duck, White Wagtail, Little Egret,
Sardinian Warbler, Woodchat Shrike, Black-tailed Godwit, Cattle Egret, Avocet,
Lesser-crested Tern, Osprey
Lastly....
To go or not to go....they are an extremely friendly people.....they have loads going for them. I couldn't find any kids with 'attitude' issues, unlike in the western world. If you are on the beach someone will try to sell you something...just say no and they go away. Loads of birds you wont see here or will find difficult to find here will be on your doorstep...and I didn't manage to get time to go to the parks either ie Soud Massa etc....as long as you are not a timid driver you will be fine...if you don't speak French learn a few basic lines though they will speak English, mostly reasonable to good. If you can learn a few basic words of Arabic they see this is a good sign...as-salamu alaykam (peace be upon you) and shukraan (thank you) will get you through. Visit the Souk, its an amazing experience...and haggle like mad....but first go to Uniprix fixed price shop so you know what you don't want to pay for anything.
Against...four things....the rubbish....is everywhere....probably cant be helped, when you are poor I suppose the last thing on your mind is recycling and being tidy. The beaches vary, the high impact ones, ie in Agadir, are clean. The smaller ones that are clean tend to be where the tourists mainly go. Small beaches are easy to find and space is not a problem, I guess at the height of the season it might be different.
Dogs....there are loads of wild dogs everywhere....interestingly they aren't a problem in terms of coming up to you, they bark a bit but usually go away.
Cats....another animal issue. If you go out to any restaurant to eat there will be cats around, some places provide a squeezy bottle of water to fend them off, which usually moves them on...other places feed them away from the premises. It reminded me of Rome many years ago which was infested with cats, though when I went a month or so ago they have clearly done the business with them.
Discharging poo in to the river was a smelly experience...and it hummed...they seem fine with it but for the visitor it can be a bit potent....and if you don't like mosquitos....the only place I found them was at the river.
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