The Smir colony Since 1994, the Smir heronry hosted the only breeding population of the nominate subspecies of the Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) in Africa (El Agbani et al. 2002; El Khamlichi & Amezian 2015). The multi-species colony hosts also breeding populations of Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis), Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) and Little Egret… Read More »
The Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) continues to expand its breeding areas in Morocco. After the first breeding at Smir heronry near Tétouan in 2011, then at Merja Fouarat near Kénitra in 2013, and at Bouznika and an urban park at Casablanca in 2015, this year it started breeding at Oued Bou Regreg (on the Rabat side… Read More »
Breeding range expansion of the Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) continues in Morocco. After the reproduction of the species at Smir marshes in 2011 and two years later at Merja Fouarat, a new breeding colony is established at Casablanca. The latter colony is found at Parc Sindibad (amusement park located inside the city) by Pierre Beaugé. In… Read More »
“La migración intercontinental de la espátula (Platalea leucorodia)” is the title of the first monograph on the Eurasian Spoonbill published in Spanish. It was edited by the ‘Limes Platalea project’ of the ‘Sociedad Gaditana de Historia Natural’ and published last autumn in Cadiz, Andalusia. Despite the title, the book included articles about different aspects (migration, wintering… Read More »
This breeding season (2013) was good at Smir heronry compared with the last year (2012) when at least the Glossy Ibis has most likely failed to nest because of disturbance. There was much less disturbance this year (probably because of the sensitisation of the gardeners done last year), and all species returned to breed in the… Read More »
A new multi-species heronry was found at Dayet Erroumi this season by Abdelhak Elbanak. It is situated in about two hundred Eucalyptus trees at the western edge of the lake. The heronry is composed of the following three species: Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis), Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) and Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax). Nests of the Cattle… Read More »
On 12 May 2012, we visited Smir wetland to observe and count the breeding populations at the adjacent heronry. Unlike last year, this breeding season was not very good for all nesting birds, drought and disturbance have probably both contributed to the failure of the breeding this season. Here are the numbers we have counted… Read More »
Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) has finally returned to breed in northern Morocco after it has deserted the region for nearly a century. An important breeding colony of the species was discovered in the heronry installed in dune vegetation near Smir marshes (northern Morocco) by one of us, Rachid El Khamlichi, on 1st May 2011. Several… Read More »