Tenerife - a Photographic record

[squidfish]

Hi

I took a trip to Tenerife with my better half for a week at the end March. To be honest I do not consider myself a birdwatcher, it is bird photography where my interest really lies. So I did a bit of research on the web to see what was likely to be on offer during the trip. The photography is really a secondary part of the holiday and I have try to fit in short sessions where I can. However, I did have one plan for the week stay, as I always like to try and set myself a target bird to photograph and for this holiday it was the Blue Chaffinch.

We stayed in a hotel (the Riu Garoe, which incidently was excellent) on the outskirts of Puerto de la Cruz. A smile came to my face when I walked out on the room balcony for the first time to see an area of parkland gardens next to some scrub habitat around the back of the hotel. This would give me ideal opportunity for popping out with the camera for half and hour here and there during the week. The smile widen further as a Canary island blue tit and chiffchaff promptly landed in the bush below :).

So this is a photographic record of my stay. For those interested I took with me the Canon 1Dmk2N body and my trusty travel lens the 100-400mm. So I will start with the birds that could be found around the back of the hotel. I managed to photograph most of the species present.

Large numbers of Canary provide plenty of photo opportunities of which this is a very small selction.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/can21.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/can25.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/can40.jpg

Canary Island Chiffchaff, which sound different to the UK version, were also plentiful and usually quite oblivious to my presence with the camera.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/chif3.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/chif4.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/chiff14.jpg

Meadow Pipit were present on the scrub area

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/medpip.jpg

It was also good to have the opportunity to photograph Turtle Dove there as I have only ever seen one in the UK.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/turt11.jpg

The bird that really kept me on my toes around the back of the hotel during the stay were the Sardinian Warbler that only twice showed themselves clear from the vegetation to allow a photograph to be taken.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/sardwarb2.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/sardwarb1.jpg

Other birds seen around the back of the hotel were Blue tit, Blackbird, Kestrel, Spanish Sparrow and Blackcap.

The Botanic Gardens is located about 250m from the hotel and this provided a couple of additional species to photograph. These were the Canary Island Blue tit

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/ctit2.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/cbtit1.jpg

and the introduced Monk and Ring necked Parakeets

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/monkpara.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/ringpara.jpg

Moving down the hill into Puerto de la Cruz itself there were plenty of rock dove along the the coastal cliffs

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/rockdove.jpg

and as is usual for a hot climate the fountain in the town squares provided a draw for birds including collared dove, spanish sparrow and a grey heron

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/coll4.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/femspsp2.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/btsp3.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/spapr20.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/gheron3.jpg

We hired a car for two days and on one day headed up Mount Teide which is quite a tortuous drive but the main reason for going, apart from enjoying the stunning scenery, was to head to Las Lajas picnic site which seemed to offer the best chance of a Blue chaffinch encounter. We stopped at the foot of the summit of Teide at an altitude of 2500m were several of the endemic Berthalot's pipit were present

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/berthpip.jpg

and then onwards to Las Lajas. The only problem was by the time we reached Las Lajas the patience of my better half, who has an aversion to twisting roads and heights, was waning rapidly so I had about 15 minutes to try and get some shots of the target chaffinch. Fortunately the birds here seem very accustomed to people and a crushed packet of biscuits soon brought a bird down from the trees.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/bchaff14.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/tenerife/bluechaff1.jpg

I would have liked to stayed longer to get some better shots but like to retain my ability to walk :). Other birds at the picnic site included the Canary island version of the Great spotted woodpecker, canary and more blue tits.

So I cannot to claim to have completed long lists of birds or even probably been anywhere near a Laurel of Bolles Pigeon but it was certainly an enjoyable trip from a photographic point of view.

Cheers

Rich

P.S I did want the photos to appear in the text but it appears it is just giving links for some reason....

[Allen S. Moore]

I enjoyed seeing your photographs. Thanks for sharing them with us.
Allen

[Pete George]

Not sure that this is an appropriate thread to place this information/request but at the end of March 07 whilst staying in the south of Tenerife, I visited a private' reserve just to the east of Golfe de Sur and west of the road to Los Abridges (the fish place!). As long as I didn't take a vehicle along the tracks I was ignored and managed excellent video and stills of Shrikes and saw Barbary Partridge several times. In the barranco there was a small reservoir with Coot plus 2 ducks that I identified as Fluvous Whistling Duck. These birds may have been escapes, but as as far as I can discover they are not listed for the Canaries. I did note in a trip report for 2005 (I think) that someone had seen several Lesser Whistling ducks in the general area of the Golf de Sur but my video footage definitly doesn't show that species. On my return to the UK I emailed an address on the Rare birds in Spain site (in English) but have heard nothing. Has anyone found this site or knows anything about Fluvous WD on Tenerife?

[Allen S. Moore]

Not sure that this is an appropriate thread to place this information/request but at the end of March 07 whilst staying in the south of Tenerife, I visited a private' reserve just to the east of Golfe de Sur and west of the road to Los Abridges (the fish place!). As long as I didn't take a vehicle along the tracks I was ignored and managed excellent video and stills of Shrikes and saw Barbary Partridge several times. In the barranco there was a small reservoir with Coot plus 2 ducks that I identified as Fluvous Whistling Duck. These birds may have been escapes, but as as far as I can discover they are not listed for the Canaries. I did note in a trip report for 2005 (I think) that someone had seen several Lesser Whistling ducks in the general area of the Golf de Sur but my video footage definitly doesn't show that species. On my return to the UK I emailed an address on the Rare birds in Spain site (in English) but have heard nothing. Has anyone found this site or knows anything about Fluvous WD on Tenerife?

I have seen a Barbary Partridge in Tenerife myself, up towards Vilaflor. I have read that they are native to most of the Canaries.
Allen

[Clive Watson]

Some good photos here, particularly the first Chiffchaff one (with the red background). This is a place I've been meaning to get to myself for several years, with no luck yet.

[Mick Sway]

Nice little report and lovely pics.
Particularly liked the Sardinian.
Thanks
Mick

[Sandra (Taylor)]

P.S I did want the photos to appear in the text but it appears it is just giving links for some reason....[/QUOTE]


Enjoyed your report, Rich, but the photos took too long to download so I've had to miss out on all except the first two. I'm not on Broadband, that's probably why.

Sandra

[rosbifs]

Makes me sick that I wasted most of my time on the island!!!
Next time........
Cracking photos.