White-winged Black Tern and Whiskered Tern wintering in Laayoune

On the 13th January 2025 I stopped at the intermediate river, Oued Saquiet Al-Hamra, at Laayoune.  I found an ornithological busy environment despite all the rubbish encroaching into the area.

I noted 26 species in about an hour,  Amongst the were two Spotted Redshank, eight Marbled Duck, one Squacco Heron, but of most interest was two White-winged Black Tern and two Whiskered Tern, species that are not usually recorded wintering in the Atlantic Sahara region.  I managed to capture photos of these birds and sent then to Rabat based ornithologist Mohammed Hilmi and David Walker, the warden of Dungeness Bird Observatory, for confirmation.


On the 26th and 27th January, on my way back from Dakhla and Oued Jenna, I returned to check the area once more.  I noted 48 species from two visits, spending 6hrs 30 mins at the location over the two days, encountering two White-winged Black Terns and one Whiskered Tern.



On the 27th, a Lesser Whitethroat was also briefly seen, a rare occurrence of this species in winter. 



Other notable counts for the locations were:-

75 Marbled Duck

14 little Stint

160 Black-winged Stilt

1 Mediterranean Gull

40 Little Grebe

3 Squacco Heron

60 little Egret

1 Bar-tailed Godwit (colour ringed in the Netherlands)




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