Eurasian Collared Dove in the Sahara
Eurasian Collared Dove at Merzouga, Morocco
On another of my sites (Trevor’s Travels) I have been writing about a tour of Morocco I undertook several years ago. I have, in recent days, finally got around to posting some of the many photos taken on that trip, along with detailed descriptions of what we did and saw. While looking at the photos I found some quite acceptable bird photos.Whenever I could get photos of the local birds, I took them. Identifying them has taken quite a while
Whenever I could get photos of the local birds, I took them. Identifying them has taken quite a while, mainly because I am not very familiar with the birds of Morocco. Over the coming days, I plan to post a few of these photos, along with some information about them.
During our tour, my family and I went on a camel ride into the Sahara Desert. This was at the locality known as Merzouga in the eastern part of the country. I must say that the desert is spectacular; I’ve shared many of the photos on my travel site. We rode the camels into the desert on Christmas Eve, staying in a Berber tent in the desert overnight. It was an unforgettable experience. I saw a few birds on the camels ride, but the moving back of such an animal is far from being an ideal photography platform. In fact, all my bird photos taken on the camel ride were too blurry and unidentifiable. Camel riding is also very uncomfortable! Enough said.
The next morning we rode (with more discomfort) through more spectacular sun dunes, deep red in the early morning sun. We ate a late breakfast at one of the local hotels. It was while having breakfast that I saw several species new to me.
The first one, featured today, was the Eurasian Collared Dove. This lovely dove is found extensively throughout Europe, Asia and has been introduced into North America. It is also found in the northern edges of Africa, including Morocco.
Further reading:
- Eurasian Collared Dove – the excellent article on this species on Wikipedia.
- Plants in the Sahara Desert
- Common Redstart, Volubilis, Morocco
- Grey Heron, Meknes, Morocco
- White Storks in Morocco
Eurasian Collared Dove at Merzouga, Morocco
Eurasian Collared Dove at Merzouga, Morocco
Collared Dove, Rabat, Morocco
Beautiful walled garden in Rabat, Morocco
On our guided tour of Rabat in Morocco we walked through the interesting walled quarter known as the Kasbah des Oudaias. A part of this quarter was this beautiful garden. In the garden I managed a few hurried photos of a Collared Dove, shown below.
I use the expression “hurried photos” deliberately. The bird was moving around constantly, not stopping for more a a second or two in any one spot, making focussing something of a challenge, even though the bird was quite close. The bird won.
Still, it was nice to add another species to my list of Moroccan birds.
Collared Dove, Rabat, Morocco
Collared Dove, Rabat, Morocco