A wildfire that tore through the Rif mountains in northern Morocco for several days from July 25 has destroyed more than a dozen villages and is likely to have ravaged the endangered Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus) monkey population living there. Some 7,500 hectares (18,500 acres) has burned, about half of the Bouhachem Forest Reserve. Local […]
Tag: Morocco
Turtle Dove slaughter in Morocco by foreign hunters
A massacre of nearly 1500 Turtle Doves in one day by foreign tourist hunters in the Marrakech region sparked great outrage in Morocco. The total exceeded by three times the hunting quota set by the law according to an official inquiry. A hunting party organized in the region of Marrakech has turned into a real […]
Pharaoh Eagle Owl – Jubail area
I saw and photographed a Pharaoh Eagle Owl recently in the desert in the Eastern Province. Records suggest it is an uncommon bird in the Saudi Arabian deserts, although it is probably more common than records suggest as they are secretive and well camouflaged. The Pharaoh Eagle Owl is distributed throughout much of North Africa […]
Important new breeding sites of mythical ibis discovered
It has had a dramatic history and was almost lost to extinction. Now this Critically Endangered bird is bouncing back with record breeding success in Morocco in 2017. As the day drew to a close, the orange light reflecting from the Atlantic seemed to soften the texture of the sun-baked Moroccan cliffs so much so […]
Blackcap Singing
Blackcaps are quite stocky birds, about the size of house sparrows. They are mainly light grey-brown in colour with the male having a neat black cap on its head, while the female’s cap is chestnut-brown. In summer, recently fledged young also have a chestnut-brown cap, with young males gaining their black cap by late autumn. […]
Stronger BirdLife Partnership takes action for Mediterranean migrants
The BirdLife Partnership’s project to develop flyway conservation capacity in the Mediterranean – funded by the Mava Foundation – is already delivering results, including a hunting ban at an important stopover site in the Balkans, and progress in two Mediterranean hunting and trapping blackspots. CZIP (BirdLife in Montenegro) has secured a two-year hunting ban at […]
Migrating Raptors on The Strait of Gibraltar
It’s been a busy six weeks with almost non-stop birding here on The Strait and across Europe. I thought I’d quickly post some of the raptor shots I have managed to edit so far on the blog to show at least some of the autumn delights… Black-winged Kites (old name is Black shouldered Kite) have […]