Day 7 – 20th - last full day
Last full day and early breakfast in the Grill Bar and then off first thing to Teguise Plains. I felt this place owed us some good birds and I was determined to find the best tracks including the one that I had missed when we got stuck the other evening, Call it pick-headedness or foolishness but I like to get to a place even if it takes more than one attempt and I did have to give the commitment to Sarah that if the going got iffy we would get out and walk.
Anyway what I should have done last time rather than rely on the map and then visually identifying the house with the stone eagles to tune was put co-ordinates into the TomTom (29.0695N – 13.6349W) and that took us to the right place to turn. House is on the right coming from Tiagua to Munique about 700m into Munique, don’t be put off if you see Stone Eagles on earlier turnings or later as there is a large Stone Mason’s in the village which obviously has sold and sells lots of stone eagles. Anyway we found the right track and we were only about 5 minutes in when Sarah spotted a Houbara Bustard just about 30 meters from the track, unfortunately it flew across and landed in the distance before we could view it well, still a great start, there were loads of Lesser Short-toed Larks and then a Stone Curlew, this was much more promising, just after the next junction of tracks we could see a bit of sand forming and the Yellow House where Gosney states “beware of the sand” was close, so we reversed back and took the track towards the Prolasa Factory – nothing seen in the cultivated area, then headed towards the bushy area and the white hut, a scan found a Stone Curlew at each side of the track, one really close, no less than 7 Hoopoe, a Grey Shrike, and 10 Lesser short-toed larks, we also found a Cattle Egret and a female Trumpeter Finch near to the farm house. We then went back on the LZ30 towards Teguise, first left towards La Caleta and went up the broad track to site 7, we did find a single distant Bustard here. Looking towards where we were stuck the other day I saw an adult Cream Coloured Courser, not too distant but on a really sandy track, so it was scope out and watch the bird for a few minutes, while I was getting on the adult bird Sarah found three other birds close to the same track, they were two juvenile and I suspect an adult female. I wanted a closer look and at least a few record shots but it was a tricky walk to get round behind them and then approach slowly and stay far enough away not to spook them, using the car as a hide would have been much easier but I would almost certainly have got stuck as the dry sand was a foot thick on certain bits of the track. Anyway I did get some record shots, not the full frame views that I was hoping for but the first shots I’ve ever managed of this species. So we declared job was a good one and headed up to Guinate (the cheap skate way to see the falcons as you don’t need to pay entrance, unlike at Mirador Del Rio - another Manrique architected property). We went via a local supermarket for a picnic lunch to be eaten while we waited. To get to Guinate you follow the signs for the zoo and just continue until you can’t go any further. Views are quite spectacular and you can see quite a large expanse of cliff where the Falcon’s breed. On the way from Haria to Guinate we had an Elenora’s Falcon and a Kestrel but it wasn’t until we had been at the viewpoint for 30 minutes that we got our first really close Barbary Falcon and he was coming in to the cliffs nearby with a Lizard in his talons. As he slowed down to land a kestrel suddenly attacked the bigger falcon and tried to make it drop its prey. We then heard a bird on the cliff it was a young falcon and it had come out of the crevice to call the adult, the adult brushed aside the Kestrel and landed on the open cliff face to hand over the lunch. I didn’t manage to photograph the exchange as I was too absorbed watching it but did get a distant record shot of the young falcon.
Only other birds we saw here were 6 Common Swifts flying out to the island, presumably migrating through, a Berthelot’s Pipit and a Lizard with blue marking on its side is this a Haria Lizard or an Easter Canary Gecko?
This afternoon Sarah wanted to visit the Green Caves (well worth a visit) Cueva del los Verdes, it caves formed by a Lava River and it was with an interesting guided tour. After that a quick visit to the Costa Teguise golf course. We spoke to the manageress who was happy for us to walk around the practice area, by the cart tracks and on the course so long as we looked out for people who were just about to start play on both the 1st and 10th holes. However it soon became clear there was not a lot to be seen a Spectacled Warbler, some Barn Swallows and Spanish Sparrows being all we found, before we decide to head back to the hotel. We arrive back just after 18.00 and helped ourselves to few glasses of Cava which was always on chill in reception between 17.45 and 20.00.
Then a few beers and a brandy after dinner as we decide we would have a later start tomorrow.
