Namaqua Dove (Oena capensis) is widely distributed across Africa south of the Sahara, Madagascar, the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East. During the last 30 years, the species has undergone a range expansion across the Middle East where the species now recorded in many countries and has reached as north as Turkey and Georgia. In… 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 »
The first proven breeding of Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) in Africa was found at an islet of Barrage Al-Massira in 2002 (Radi et al. 2004; Thévenot et al. 2004). Soon after, the species started to colonise other wetlands in Morocco and some sites in Algeria and Tunisia as well. The following sites is where the… Read More »
The House Bunting (Emberiza sahari) colonised Tangier since at least a decade ago and now is abundant in many parts of this big city (Amezian et al. 2006). Then it colonised Tétouan since at least 2010. Now it started to disperse even outside the cities. Yesterday, Rachid El Khamlichi took a quick photo of one bird… Read More »
A Namaqua Dove (Oena capensis) was observed today at Safia reserve, Oued Dahab region by Abdeljebbar Qninba and members of the Association Nature Initiative (photo 4). This is the 5th Moroccan record for this species. Update: On 22 May, A. Qninba sent us an SMS with this information “a second Namaqua Dove with a very small tail… Read More »
Laughing Dove reached northernmost Morocco, its final step before crossing the Strait of Gibraltar to colonise Europe. A Laughing Dove (Spilopelia senegalensis) was observed yesterday while birding at Sidi Abdeslam, east of Tétouan, only some kilometres from the Strait of Gibraltar. The sighting was very brief and Rachid was only able to get 3 record… Read More »
House Buntings (Emberiza sahari) colonised Tangier in mid-2000 (Amezian et al. 2006), but it has never been recorded at Tétouan or at any other locality in northernmost Morocco outside of Tangier. The House Bunting at Tétouan was recorded thanks to Yousef El Ouahabi who had been observing them visit his house to feed with the… Read More »
Up until the publication of ‘The Birds of Morocco’ (Thévenot et al. 2003), the House Bunting (Emberiza sahari) was only recorded as a vagrant in Tangier. By mid-2000s, it started to breed in the Medina of Tangier (Birding World 19: 263). How the original nucleus population started to breed in Tangier, however, is still a… Read More »
The endangered White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala) went extinct as a breeding species in Morocco in the first half of 20th century. It also disappeared as a wintering visitor. The Spanish population has also decreased dramatically between the 1950s and 1970s to just 22 birds in 1977. However, the population in Spain has since recovered and… Read More »
The Cricket Warbler or Cricket Longtail (Spiloptila clamans) is a small bird native to the Sahel region where its breeding area is restricted to a narrow band stretching from southern Mauritania and northern Senegal eastwards to Sudan and Eritrea. The species has recently been discovered in Oued Jenna some 40 Km before the village of… Read More »