A Black Scrub Robin (Cercotrichas podobe) was photographed at Tamanrasset last year. It’s the first observation in Algeria in five decades.
Un Agrobate podobé photographié à Tamanrasset au sud de l’Algérie le 3 mai 2019. C’est la deuxième ou troisième observation pour le pays.
A Black Scrub Robin was photographed at Tamanrasset on 3 May 2019 by Soufyane Bekkouche. This is the second or third record for Algeria. The previous record(s) was/were also in the same region. Here is a quote from the ‘Birds of Algeria’ by Moali and Isenmann (2000): “…was observed 8 February 1968 at Tamanrasset and, perhaps, on 12 February 1968 in Central Ahaggar”.
In July 2018, the same observer photographed a Blue-naped Mousebird (Urocolius macrourus) and a flock of Sudan Golden Sparrow (Passer luteus) in the Tin-Zaouten district, located in the southern part of Tamanghasset province.
In the Western Palearctic, outside the Middle East the Black Scrub Robin has only been recorded in Algeria and Egypt (several records along the Red Sea coast).
In Mauritania, the species has also been recorded in the far north of the country (e.g. at Mhairith, Atar, Ouadane,…), but I don’t know if it has ever been recorded inside the Western Palearctic ‘limit’.
Acknowledgements
First and foremost thanks to the observer for photographing the birds he encountered. Thanks also to Aissa Djamel FILALI for his help in obtaining the photographs. Although we were aware of the observation at the time, it was thanks to the discussion with Łukasz Ławicki that I finally got the photos.
Update:
Koen de Smet, who worked in Algeria and knows the local fauna very well, commented the following in email : « Magnifique: on le cherche depuis 30 ans !! et il existe donc. Félicitations ! ».