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Birding News

Index of birding news that are of interest to Western Palearctic birders. These include, among others, ‘mega rarities’ found in Northwest African, potential vagrants to the WP from adjacent areas, and other interesting articles.

Other birding news and national rarities (including many “first national records”) are filed under their respective country.

Tawny Eagle in Morocco: current status and vagrancy potential

Tawny Eagle (Aquila rapax), northern Senegal, 26 Jan. 2014 (Frédéric Bacuez/Ornithondar).

Tawny Eagle in Morocco is very rare, as there have been no documented breeding pairs for over two decades. The former breeding range of Tawny Eagle (Aquila rapax) in Morocco was much larger, however the known breeding areas in the past few decades are/were much more restricted as the species has already disappeared from the

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Expansion of Red-billed Firefinch in Algeria

Red-billed Firefinch / Amarante du Sénégal (Lagonosticta senegala), Djanet, Algeria, 29 Oct. 2016 (Khaled Ayyach)

The Red-billed Firefinch (Lagonosticta senegala) was introduced at Tamanrasset around 1940. It’s also present at El-Goléa, northern Sahara, since at least 1972 (Isenmann & Moali 2000). Currently, the species still present at the known sites cited above. Tamanrasset, Tamanrasset Province: The species is still present in the town and it’s easily seen there in good

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4 Golden Nightjars at Oued Jenna, Aousserd: detailed report

Golden Nightjar (Caprimulgus eximius), Oued Jenna, Aousserd, 19 April 2016

Excellent observations in the Western Sahara, southern Morocco. Peter Stronach and Bob Swann have just returned back from a birding trip to the region. They recorded Golden Nightjars and provided valuable details indicating the (highly probable) breeding of the species in the region. They also recorded a Sudan Golden Sparrow at Oued Jenna (first observation

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Allen’s Gallinule at Tachektent, Dakhla-Aousserd road

Allen’s Gallinule / Talève d’Allen (Porphyrio alleni), Tachektent, Oued Dahab, 18 Feb. 2016 (Mohamed Mediani)

Allen’s Gallinule (Porphyrio alleni) found at Tachektent on the Dakhla-Aousserd road yesterday (18 February 2016) by Mohamed Mediani. This is the 11th record for Morocco. The bird photographed by Ali Irizi at Oued Massa on 28 December 2014 and found three days later by Daniel Vrauwdeunt at the same site should be counted as one record in my opinion.

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