Birding at Tahaddart estuary and lower Loukkos

During the first week of February, we decided to move to lower Tahaddart wetland in north-west of Morocco near the Atlantic coastal town of Asilah. This is one of the places where one should go if he wants to see Great Bustard (Otis tarda) in Africa, but we didn’t have any chance this time. Our colleagues A. Qninba and M.A. El Agbani saw 3 Great Bustard in the early morning of the same day. The area is really big and it is impossible to prospect it in a few hours (7h), however, we get a good number of species. In the evening we drove back to lower Loukkos marshes where we enjoyed seeing a big number of Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina) in the marshy pond behind the motorway. It should be noted that the number of hunters in the area of Tahaddart was noticeably very high.

The Species list (Tahaddart estuary + the marshes of lower Loukkos)

Eurasian Wigeon / Anas penelope
Gadwall / Anas strepera
Eurasian Teal /Anas crecca
Mallard / Anas platyrhynchos
Northern Pintail / Anas acuta
Northern Shoveler / Anas clypeata
Marbled teal/ Marmaronetta angustirostris
Red-crested Pochard/ Netta rufina
Ferruginous Duck / Aythya nyroca
Great cormorant/ Phalacrocórax carbo
Little grebe / Tachybaptus ruficollis
Squacco Heron / Ardeola ralloides
Cattle Egret / Bubulcus ibis 
Little Egret / Egretta garzetta
Great White Egret / Casmerodius albus
Grey Heron / Ardea cinerea
White Stork / Ciconia ciconia
Glossy Ibis / Plegadis falcinellus
Eurasian Spoonbill / Platalea leucorodia
Greater Flamingo / Phoenicopterus roseus
Black-winged Kite / Elanus caeruleus
Western Marsh Harrie / Circus aeruginosus
Hen Harrier / Circus cyaneus
Common Kestrel / Falco tinnunculus
Common Moorhen / Gallinula chloropus
Purple Gallinule / Porphyrio porphyrio
Common Coot / Fulica atra
Crested Coot / Áulica cristata
Common Crane / Grus grus
Eurasian Oystercatcher / Haematopus ostralegus
Black-winged Stilt / Himantopus himantopus
Pied Avocet / Recurvirostra avosetta 
Kentish Plover / Charadrius alexandrinus 
European Golden Plover / Pluviales apricaria 
Grey Plover / Pluviales squatarola 
Northern Lapwing / Vanellus vanellus
Sanderling / Calidris alba 
Little Stint / Calidris minuta
Dunlin / Calidris alpina
Ruff / Philomachus pugnax
Common Snipe / Gallinago gallinago
Black-tailed Godwit / Limosa limosa
Whimbrel / Numenius phaeopus
Eurasian Curlew / Numenius arquata
Spotted Redshank  / Tringa erythropus
Common Redshank / Tringa totanus
Common Greenshank / Tringa nebularia
Black-headed Gull / Chroicocephalus ridibundus
Lesser Black-backed Gull / Larus fuscus
Yellow-legged Gull / Larus michahellis
Caspian Tern / Hydroprogne caspia
Sandwich Tern / Sterna sandvicensis
Little Owl / Atiene noctua
Common Kingfisher / Alcedo atthis
Thekla Lark / Galerita theklae
Meadow Pipit / Anthus pratensis
Yellow Wagtail / Motacilla flava
White Wagtail / Motacilla alba 
Eurasian Stonechat / Saxicola torquatus
Common Blackbird / Turdus merula
Common Starling / Sturnus vulgaris 
Spotless Starling / Sturnus unicolor 
Sardinian Warbler / Sylvia melanocephala
European Greenfinch / Chloris chloris
European Goldfinch / Carduelos carduelis
Common Reed Bunting / Emberiza schoeniclus

Bird photos by S.L., Habitats by A.B.

Abdelhak Elbanak, Said Lahrouz, Adil Bouajaja & Imad Cherkaoui.