Home » Bird Migration » Lesser Spotted Eagles at Jbel Moussa, Morocco

Lesser Spotted Eagles at Jbel Moussa, Morocco

Single Lesser Spotted Eagles (Clanga pomarina) migrating through the Strait of Gibraltar in northern Morocco in 2016 and 2017.

The first observation is of a 2nd calendar-year bird photographed at Jbel Moussa on 21 May 2016. This is the fourth record of the species in Morocco.

The first Moroccan record was observed at Merzouga in April 1996 by P.-A. Crochet et al. (Bergier et al. 1997, the second was observed at Punta Cires near Tanger-Med Port on 14 September 2007 by J. Ramírez Román et al. (Bergier et al. 2010), and the third one was observed also at Jbel Moussa on 26 September 2010 by Diego Jerez et al. (Bergier et al. 2012).

Lesser Spotted Eagle / Aigle pomarin (Clanga pomarina), Jbel Moussa, 21 May 2016 (Rachid El Khamlichi)
Lesser Spotted Eagle / Aigle pomarin (Clanga pomarina), Jbel Moussa, 21 May 2016 (Rachid El Khamlichi)

The second Lesser Spotted Eagle was photographed at Tanger-Med Port on 1 October 2016. It was seen arriving with other raptors from the Strait of Gibraltar by Rachid El Khamlichi, Halima Bousadik and Sabine Zégres. This is the 5th record for Morocco.

Lesser Spotted Eagle (Clanga pomarina) just crossed the Strait of Gibraltar near Tanger-Med Port, 1 Oct. 2016 (Rachid El Khamlichi)
Lesser Spotted Eagle just crossed the Strait of Gibraltar near Tanger-Med Port, 1 Oct. 2016 (Rachid El Khamlichi).

The third bird was observed migrating northward at Jbel Moussa on 24 June 2017. 6th record for Morocco.

Lesser Spotted Eagle at Jbel Moussa, northern Morocco, 24 June 2017 (Rachid El Khamlichi)
Lesser Spotted Eagle at Jbel Moussa, northern Morocco, 24 June 2017 (Rachid El Khamlichi)

3 thoughts on “Lesser Spotted Eagles at Jbel Moussa, Morocco”

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *