On our many journeys into the Sahara desert, we have been fortunate enough to observe lots of bird life there, some species are resident, some are migrant visitors. Our featured image (left) is a white-crowned black wheatear, which you’ll also find once South of the High Atlas mountains in the southern oases.
The best times to discover desert bird life are during the low visitor seasons.
A great example of this was at the start of summer when we chanced upon dozens of spotted sandgrouse in low-lying scrub, in between the region of Lbor and the hamada (desert stone), on one of the routes to Erg Chigaga. Without much passing foot or vehicle traffic the sandgrouse were content to roam between the bushes. Well-camouflaged and fast walkers we nearly missed them, until we noticed more of the flock starting to move in pairs. One of our favourite desert birds, with a distinctive style of movement.
Some further images of bird life you can expect to encounter in Morocco’s Sahara desert…
Desert Wheatear
Desert Sparrow
Desert Sparrow
Brown-necked Raven
Blue-cheeked Bee Eater
Yellow Wagtail
Little Owl (at Bounou, near M’hamid El Ghezlane)