American Golden Plover outside Guelmim, Morocco - 28th January 2025

I had stopped at this location on my way South to Dakhla a few weeks previously and saw the potential, so a revisit seemed to make sense.  I ended up, unexpectedly staying for three nights, two by choice and one extra because of a sandstorm that reduced visibility down to a few metres at times.

I arrived in the late afternoon on the 28th January to three Barbary Partridges gliding across the road.  To make use of the remaining hours of light, I set out on a patrol of the area right away.  It includes a freshwater run-off from the nearby reservoir, and is used to feed irrigation ditches that have various purposes.  The local berber makes good use of this supply and grows various vegetables and waters his cow.  Further up "stream", the it feeds a smallish field of grass that feeds a flock of sheep.  A mile away, it supplies several polytunnels.

The Black-winged Kite that I'd noted whilst passing several weeks earlier was still present, although it made itself scare after the initial re-sighting.  Before long, the usual species showed; Moussier's Redstart, Great Grey Shrike, White Stork, 10 Zitting Cisticolas (seemingly displaying and collecting nesting material at this very early date), but the most surprising discovery was a plover in a muddied puddle in one of the disused sections.  It looked greyish but quite unlike a Grey Plover, and as it was quitte far inland, unlikely.

Although it was a Golden Plover type I knew they weren't widely found in Morocco, especially this far south.  The build and the plumage told me it was something else.  I guessed it might be an American Golden Plover, but was guarded due to it's rarity.  I uploaded the photo to twitter to see what the suggestions would be.  Click here >> for original twitter post



Six people replied confirming that it was indeed an American Golden Plover.  What was it doing here?   25-30km inland isn't that much, but in the desert it feels like a greater distance.  I also sent the first two images shown here to Mohammed Hilmi, an ornithological Phd student, based in Rabat, who sent it to some of his contacts to garner further opinion.



  


The next morning I captured the image below.

  


I had planned to leave this site on the 30th January, but the sandstorm had put an end to that prospect with most of the day spent inside the van.


So I finally left on the 31st, but not before encountering 12 Black-bellied Sandgrouse that visited an overflow to drink.  11 of the 12 can be seen in the photo below.



Sean Minns and Mike Duckham were able to catch up with the AGP sometime in February.  Twitter link to Sean's post and photo.

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