CORSICA & NORTHERN MOROCCO TOUR REPORT 2026

The group arrived around midday and we were soon on our way along the country lanes around the back of the airport. I was hoping to find a Red-footed Falcon, a few of which had been seen migrating over the past few days. Alas, no falcons but we still enjoyed seeing our first European Bee-eaters sitting on telegraph wires, as well as Spotless Starlings, European Turtle Dove, Western Yellow Wagtails and others. Heading south, we followed the coastal road and called into a small port where Italian Sparrows proved a bit tricky to see in the high wind, but we needn’t have worried as they were quite conspicuous at our hotel later this afternoon! We called into the Dunes De Prunette where several Scopoli’s Shearwaterswere seen albeit distantly. A male Montagu’s Harrier flew by, and there were several Red Kites and Western Marsh Harriers up in the sky. We reached our hotel shortly after 3pm and enjoyed a nice siesta before heading out to a nearby beach at 5pm for a seawatch. This time, with scopes at the ready, we had 20+ Scopoli’s Shearwaters, some of which were quite close. A couple of Mediterranean Shearwaters also whizzed by at high speed as well.

We ended the day along a quiet country lane looking for the Category C ‘mega’ California Quail, one of the trickiest of Corsica’s specialities! Having been here a couple of days earlier in preparation for this trip I was apprehensive and didn’t really rate our chances. Well, how wrong could I be? Some sharp spotting by Vince produced up to 4 birds in an open area some distance away, in company with 2 Red-legged Partridges. As the birds were some distance away we could exit the minibus and set up a scope to watch them. Amazing! What a stunning bird and one hard to add to your WP list. Once the birds disappeared we left to drive back to the hotel, stopping to look at an European Roller perched up on a telegraph pole.

We celebrated this evening with some fine local beer and a sumptuous dinner.

We had a walk around the grounds before breakfast, seeing a brief Moltoni’s Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Eurasian Hoopoe, Italian Sparrow & Cirl Bunting.

After breakfast we drove up into the mountains to a different area in the forlorn hope of seeing Lammergeier. Sadly nothing doing with the big bird, however we managed excellent views of Corsican Finch, with a pair feeding right beside the road and the male literally filling the view in the scope. We also had a pair of Golden Eagles, Common Cuckoo, Northern Ravens, very distant Alpine Choughs, and a superb sighting of a singing Marmora’s Warbler right in front of us. We also enjoyed further Corsican Finch sightings later in the morning as well. We then drove to the rather picturesque Gorges de la Restonica and saw another pair of Golden Eagles, had the most bold Firecrest imaginable, along with a fantastic experience watching a White-throated Dipper repeatedly bringing food to its nest somewhere below us. Watching it going underwater in the crystal clear mountain river and finding food was incredible.

We headed up to the Vallee d’Asco with the main aim of finding a Lammergeier, after our previous failed attempt.  Only just over an hour’s drive from our cabins we were soon driving through an impressive gorge on our way ever higher to a ski resort. At the first stop we had some incredible luck with a very confiding Moltoni’s warbler giving us our best views so far – and the previous ones weren’t too bad either! Over the course of the rest of the day we scanned from various vantage points, looking up at ever impressive craggy peaks for Lammergeier, interspersed with a couple of stops for coffee at the ski resort – well it was pretty chilly here! We drove lower down at one stage and had further views of an aggressive Corsican Nuthatch, whilst back up higher we came across a small group of 4 Corsican Finches feedig on the ground and later calling away from the conifers next to the car park. Eventually we picked up a Lammergeier soaring across a ridge above us, and relief all round. It was a lifer for one of the group and reason enough to have a few beers this evening with our dinner.

After a late breakfast we left the hotel with our guide, Hassan and headed south-west towards the buttonquail site. We spent the morning looking for Small Buttonquail, hearing one call distantly but all too briefly. We did pick up many Spotless Starlings, Great Grey Shrike, a bunch of common shorebirds on some lagoons, but a group of Audouin’s Gulls were very nice, and a posing Little Owl was also cool. After lunch in the nearby village we drove to our next hotel in El Jadida for a rest as it was really hot and bird activity was low.

In the early evening we returned to Sidi Abed and had another buttonquail calling, this time much closer but in a wheat field with no chance of seeing it. How frustrating! We did have an Eurasian Golden Oriole flying over, along with another group of Audouin’s Gulls, but not a lot else.

Shortly after 5am we were driving along quiet roads towards an area known as The Zaers, on our quest for another tricky WP species – Double-spurred Spurfowl. An hour later we were walking amidst an area of rolling hills covered in scrub, where both Short-toed and Booted Eagles were seen. It was pretty cool this early and not much was calling, apart from numerous Common Nightingales and several European Turtle Doves. Our first African Chaffinchesand African Blue Tits were largely ignored as we were single-minded in our pursuit of the spurfowl. Eventually one began calling, and then another but both were in areas where we had no chance of spotting them. So we walked further and came to a viewpoint where there were a couple of wide tracks and open areas. Sure enough, a pair were first found by Ian quite distantly but perfectly decent views through the powerful Swarovski scope were enjoyed by everyone and the pressure was off. We could hear another bird calling close by, but again on a dense brush-covered slope. Fortunately another spurfowl appeared on the track below us a short while later, again giving decent scope views. A Barbary Partridge appeared a couple of times as well whilst we scanned, but after around an hour and a half as the weather became warmer it was apparent we weren’t going to get any better views so walked back to the car.

 Following a really nice breakfast in a town we headed to Lac de Sidi Bourhaba, one of the famous sites in Morocco, where we spent a pleasant hour watching 65+ White-headed Ducks, along with numerous Red-crested & Common Pochards, Ferruginous Ducks, along with several Marbled Ducks and Red-knobbed Coots. Both Booted Eagles and Black Kitesshowed overhead as well in the clear blue skies.

 From here we drove further north along the coast to probably the most famous birding site in the whole country – Merja Zerga. We picked up a local man who took us through the strawberry farms and out into the marsh where Marsh Owl was our next quarry. Sure enough it didn’t take long for us to get a couple of flybys from an adult bird and we thoroughly enjoyed getting stunning views without having to work too hard (for a change)!

Our last morning was spent revisiting the same areas as yesterday. So we had a 7.30am breakfast and then headed up to the hills where we wanted to see Atlas Wheatear again, which we did. In fact there were maybe 4 pairs in the same area as yesterday, when we only saw one pair in the late morning yesterday! As we spread out across the hillside, an extremely confiding male Moussier’s Redstart gave superlative photo opportunities for everyone and we could truly appreciate each and every feather as it posed beautifully, even singing on occasion. There was also at least 3 males and a female Spectacled Warbler found nearby, and we also had Booted Eagle, Atlas Long-legged Buzzard and numerous Northern Ravens flying over.

After a nice relaxed couple of hours here, we dropped down into the nearby forest where some of the group went off in a successful search for yesterday’s Western Orphean Warbler. Some better views of Western Subalpine Warbler were also wanted and a male duly obliged, although proved to be tricky for photos as he decided to sing right from the top of a conifer, some 30 feet above us! Numerous Melodious Warblers were perched out singing from surrounding bushes, African Chaffinches were around and more African Blue Tits were seen. And that was basically our lot. We headed back to the hotel to shower and pack and then drove up to Fez Airport for our flight back to the UK and conclusion of a very successful tour.