News revealed on Netfugl in the last few days has confirmed what we suspected when we visited in May 2010. There are Sudan Golden Sparrows within the WP - in Western Sahara! 2 have been seen this month 'c17km SW of Aousserd'.
The road from Dahkla to Aousserd was one we explored extensively for 2 days finding such goodies as Cricket Longtail, African Dunn's Lark and Saharan Olivaceous Warbler (see the trip report here ) and at the time we mused about what else could be found out here by exploring further. The only problem with this is the remote location, a normal car fuel tank holds just enough to get from Dahkla to Aousserd and back so to venture further would presumably need reserves of fuel in cans. There is also no accommodation out there, the village of Aousserd is little more than a NATO base.
With the demise of the breeding Pied Crows on the way south and also the rather unreliable Kelp Gulls the lure for birders isn't what it was a couple of years ago but this remote corner of the WP towards the Mauritania border would undoubtedly still reward the pioneering birder...
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