Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Travels through Morocco

My brother and I spent last week travelling over the High Atlas from Marrackech to the edge of the Sahara near the border with Algeria. Our interest was general photography though I could not help but see some good birds along the way. Sometimes on birding trips in new places (trip report from 2007 here) I can be looking so hard for new species on a tight itinerary that I forget to enjoy the birds themselves. On a more relaxed approach, absorbing the wonderful landscapes of Morocco through a wider angle, the birds may find you - and somehow the experience can be richer. I'm talking about the Desert Sparrows that land three feet away from you when you're concentrating on photographing sand dune ripples, the House Bunting that wakes you up by singing within a hotel, the Tristam's Warbler that scolds in typical Sylvia tones above an al fresco desert breakfast, or the Hoopoe Lark that runs past when your transportation becomes stuck in not so terra firma! I'll post a lot of photographs later but for now: Snow in the High Atlas, Camels in the desert, verdant terraces of agriculture in the Atlas foothills, Djemma El Fna at sunet, an oasis near Tineghir, a curious Desert Sparrow (Passer simplex saharae) at Erg Chebbi, and White Storks nesting on top of a minaret in the Dades Gorge.







1 comment:

Nicole MacP said...

Gorgeous!!!!! Wow!