Book Review
A Birdwatchers' Guide to Morocco
P and F Bergier
ISBN 1 871104 09 2
Birdwatchers' Guides, Prion Ltd, Kings Head Cottage, Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk NR25 7RX
Review by: Brian Small, BrianJSmall AT aol.com, Feb 2004.
My first Birdwatchers' Guides were those to the Canary Islands and Portugal, a good few years ago now (but still glanced at occasionally). I would have to say, though, that this new up-dated second edition of a guide first published 15 years ago is a class above those, and a great improvement on the first edition. It reflects the needs and expectations of the modern birder, with many new innovations, but also it reflects the changes in the attitude towards tourists in Morocco and the infrastructure, which allows easier access to a number of new sites.
Accommodation has been improved and is now not a problem in many areas of Morocco, and the telephone numbers of a good many hotels are listed - a really good idea, with a cell-phone in your hand you can have a very flexible itinerary.
The guide is divided into three main sections to help make a birding trip run smoothly. the first introductory section deals with: introduction - general information on geography, birds and birding hotspots,etc.; pre-tour information - visas, planning of trip, etc.; travel information - travel to and within Morocco; staying in Morocco - accommodation, food, banks, etc.; climate; health and medical faciltities; maps, etc..
The second deals with the sites. Each site is further broken into: location - with excellent maps to help; local accomodation - hotels, and campsites for some; strategy - best times to visit and how to work an area; birds; other wildlife. These are well written and extremely helpful sections, containing a lot of local information which you know has been based in first-hand knowledge. Patrick Bergier has recently published a detailed paper on the birds of the Marrakesh region in Alauda.
The final part of the book deals with a selective list of bird species and where you might well find them, then a systematic list of species recorded in Morocco. It is with this list that I have my only grumbles about what is an excellent book. Being a bit of a 'form freak', I would have liked more information about the sub-species that have easily identifiable forms which differ to those seen 'normally' in Europe. For example, Chaffinch is represented in Morocco by africana; Blue Tit by ultramarinus; Magpie by mauretanica; Coal Tit by atlas. There are others but I won't bore you, suffice to say that the first three forms listed above are treated as species by some authorities.
As I have indicated this is a very helpful and informative book. The text is excellent (one or two grammatical errors) and authoritative; the maps very good; the bird lists realistic. Buy it and off you go!
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