To the Atlas mountains and desert

18 December 2010.

After yesterday, today, a long bus journey from the Atlantic coast of Morocco to Ouarzazate in the mountains, 1,160 metres high.

Rain in the morning.

White storks on a TV antenna.

At 7:37, we are at El Gfifat. A bit further, a kestrel on a lamppost. Magpies.

A bridge over the Souss river just before Taroudant. A male Moussier’s redstart.

A great tit. Four white storks on the other river bank.

A pied wagtail near the river.

A greenfinch on a wire.

A laughing dove on another wire.

A spotless starling on a telephone pole.

A bit later, in the old walled town of Taroudant: house buntings mix with house sparrows on the busy market.

A bit of rain. Collared dove.

Near the town gate, a kestrel under a white stork nest.

On a TV tower just outside the city center, a lanner falcon eating a pigeon.

12:25: a dead great grey shrike along the motorway.

At 12:55, a black-shouldered kite on a tree.

At 13:15 at Aoulouz near the river, a long-legged buzzard.

Cattle egrets fly to the remains of an old bridge.

A little egret.

A kestrel tries to drive away a much bigger long-legged buzzard.

On the mountains, in big Arabic script: “God, Fatherland, the King”. And “Long live the king”.

A praying mantis on a tree in a mountain village.

In the evening, we arrive in Ouarzazate.

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