The Cream-colored Courser is at home on the oases, dunes and lush valleys of an enchanted country where...

The Cream-colored Courser is at home on the oases, dunes and lush valleys of an enchanted country where the corners of two continents touch and the waters of the Mediterranean and Atlantic mix.

Morocco’s unique avian habitats are home not only to African birds, but it also is a rest stop European migrants that funnel across the Strait of Gibraltar. The courser is one of the few species that has benefited from the slow expansion of the Sahara, the world’s largest hot desert.

(Photo: Adrian Binns, Wildside Nature Tours)

The courser is a descendent of waders that now runs across the hot sand in northern Africa’s and southwest Asia’s semi-arid landscape. Their feathers? Sand-colored, of course, but with stylish black and white eye stripe accents, and a subtle, blue-grey crown on the back of the head.

Females often nest near one another, and up to 25 coursers are occasionally seen in flocks.

The courser competes for birders’ attention in Morocco with the Northern Bald Ibis, many other glamour species and the lovely Morocco landscape itself.  U.K. birders experience environmental and cultural shock after a short plane ride from London.

Birding tours in November take advantage of mildly warm and sunny weather that can sometimes require a jacket when breezes blow in from the Atlantic. Actually, Morocco’s Atlantic shore is a haven for storm-petrels, shearwaters and other seabirds. 

The 9-to-11 days in the spring birding tours offered by Rockjumper, Tropical Birding, Birding Ecotours, begin in Marrakech, at the base of the Atlas Mountains. 

The 18-day tours offered by Wildside Nature Tours and Field Guides start in Casablanca as does Worldwide Quest’s 12-day tour, which takes in more cultural highlights, such as a cooking class on tagine, or earthenware cooking. 

The comprehensive Wildside and Field Guides tours take in a vast gorgeous expanse of Morocco’s land, wildlife and culture in big loops.

The Wildside itinerary is an arc that starts in Casablanca in the north and ends at Agadir on the Atlantic coast in the south, while the Field Guides’ itinerary is circle that begins and ends at Casablanca.

The tours use vehicles to reach hotspots where short walks and longer strolls are rewarded with views of Crimson-winged Finches and Atlas Horned Larks to Moussier’s Redstarts and Seebohm’s Wheatears.

Nature Trek’s tour starts in Marrakech, but veers farther south than some tours to Merzouga, a village in the Sahara known for huge sand dunes and camel safaris.

Experienced guides are important in Morocco; guides like Ornitholidays’ David Walsh have led 17 tours to Morocco. 

The 8-day October tour offered by The Traveling Naturalist combines equal parts coastal birding with a boat trip out of Agadir, with drive past a bird-rich estuary to the arid Guelmim, “Gateway to the Desert.” 

 Here is a chronological listing of my top-10 birding tours in 2016 to Morocco:

• February 14, 11 days, Rockjumper Birding, $2,400, http://bit.ly/Rockjumper11da2016Morocco 

• February 25, 10 days, Nature Trek, £1595 ($2,377) incl. U.K. flights http://bit.ly/NatureTrek-10da-Morocco

• March 14, 9 days, Tropical Birding, $2,900, http://bit.ly/TropicalBirdingMorocco

• March 24, 11 days, Birding Ecotours, $2,168 (€1995), http://bit.ly/BirdingEcotoursMorocco

• March 25, 18 days, Wildside Nature Tours, $5,700, http://bit.ly/WildsideMorocco

• April 5, 10 days, Ornitholidays, £1,999 ($2,979) http://bit.ly/OrnitholidaysMorocco

• April 12, 11 days, Wings Birding Tours, $3,250, http://bit.ly/WingsBirdsMorocco 

• May 21, 18 days, Field Guides, $4,575, http://bit.ly/FieldGuidesMorocco

• October 14, 12 days, WorldWide Quest, $5,495, http://bit.ly/WWQuestMorocco

• October 29, 8 days, The Traveling Naturalist, £1,595 ($2,377) not flight from UK http://bit.ly/Trvl-NaturalistMorocco 

I believe that the more we watch, photograph, study and enjoy Cream-colored Coursers, the better for the species, all birds, all wildlife and all humans. 

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