Rob Smallwood
Well-known member
Sorry, I don't, but if I pass by layer I'll take a look.
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Fuerteventura, Tenerife and Santa Pola; 3 months mostly with no car (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Brian Stone
- Start date
Brian Stone
A Stone chatting
Tenerife, the first 10 days
Bajamar
The green jagged mountainous landscape of the northern part of Tenerife where we are based is a huge contrast to the arid, flat lands of Fuerteventura. We are based in Bajamar on the edge of the lush laural forests of the Anaga massif and this time a car is essential. There are limited possibilities on foot here, partly because access is denied to a lot of the habitat.
That local area does have a couple of small reservoirs and with african crakes and rails very much in the Macaronesian news I have given them a look and found a Glossy Ibis, a small roost of Black-crowned Night Herons and a Garganey. Canarian Kestrels are particularly common with perhaps three pairs in sight of our apartment and Barbary Falcons go over every so often. It's nice to watch the Cattle Egrets feeding here too and the pre/post roost flocks up at the pools have got to c.80. Canary Island Chiffchaffs and Atlantic Canaries are numerous and vocal, while Blackbirds and Blackcaps are common in the barranco and growing areas. The small scale agriculture is also excellent for Barbary Partridge and reptiles. Tenerife Lizard is common and yesterday we found two West Canary Skinks fairly easily. One 'rarity' here was a single Greenfinch.
Butterflies so far have been mainly Small Whites with a few Red Admiral, Canary Speckled Wood and Clouded Yellow. Few dragonflies and nothing settling for ID as yet.
Parque Rural de Anaga
Our first few trips out were into the Anaga Rural Park where there is a vast amount of seemingly unspoilt laurel and juniper forest clinging to the steep peaks. A bit of checking shows that both endemic pigeons have been seen here recently but views from the most popular miradors are rather obscured by nearby tall vegetation. However the viewpoint at Pico del Ingles gives largely uninterrupted views across a huge amount of excellent habitat. On my first visit I only got one unidentifiable glimpse and followed this with a Laurel Pigeon flying away much lower down near Los Batanes. Disappointingly this was right at the base of the forest zone and was with Feral Pigeons! Not the experience I had expected. However on my last visit to Pico del Ingles I had 10 sightings of pigeons over about 2 hours. 8 of these were Laurel Pigeons, always singly in flight and sometimes very close. I even had one perched for a while, although the heat shimmer was bad making photography pointless. I also heard them calling here and it seems there are probably one or two resident just under the western edge of the viewpoint. The other two sightings were of Bolle's Pigeon, both single birds flying away over the next ridge to the west. Not terribly satisfactory views but the salient features noted. Then as I drove off from here a Bolle's Pigeon flushed from above the car and flew in front of me for a few seconds giving incredible views of the banded tail!
A bit of walking along trails through this forest revealed that seeing the pigeons would be very difficult away from the miradors as the paths pass through the dense cover with little in the way of views. They do however have a fair few Tenerife Goldcrests, the odd Canary Island Great Spotted Woodpecker, African Blue Tits and plenty of Canary Island Common Chaffinches. Really taken with this race and with it's distinctive plumage and different vocals surely must be as good a species as the Chiffchaff or Blue Tit (as proposed here Sequential colonization of oceanic archipelagos led to a species-level radiation in the common chaffinch complex (Aves: Fringilla coelebs)).
Punta del Hidalgo
A short way north along the coast from us is the end of the road and the faded resort of Punta del Hidalgo. Attractive from a birding point of view as it has some abandoned coastal agriculture and scrub on a bit of a headland, which must be first landfall for birds from the north and west and has some potential for seawatching. Indeed there are two rather new-looking hides here with some excellently illustrated information panels. A few waders use the rocky shoreline and the small fields and scrub hold a couple of Sardinian Warblers and the only Berthelot's Pipits I've seen so far but the sea is the main attraction.
My first check just came up with a single Cory's Shearwater but on 9th Feb the wind swung around to the south and I was treated to 31 Cory's and a single Barolo Shearwater heading north. This latter was a particularly pleasing lifer as I was one of the many seawatchers at Pendeen on 5th October last year enjoying the likes of Leach's Petrels and Sabine's Gulls while just three others got onto one passing there unseen by everyone else.
The beautiful and dramatic barranco here is walkable and there are Iberian Water Frogs in the pools higher up. Common Buzzards, Barbary Falcons and Kestrels were having spats over the twin rocky peaks of Los Hermanos to the north.
Las Raices
On the 10th we ventured a little further afield to the recreational areas in the mountains SW of the capital on the way to El Teide. An easy 5-6km circuit here through open pine forest was a pleasant change to the dense cover of Anaga and the wildlife pretty good too. Highlight was at the Zona Recreativa where someone had put down some food that was attracting several species including the Tenerife Blue Chaffinch. Seen in the pines earlier on the walk it was nice to get close views of this endemic along with excellent views of the Common Chaffinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker and African Blue Tit. It was also close to here that we saw two Tenerife Geckos, the second one posing very nicely for the camera. There were more Tenerife Blue Chaffinches to the north at the Zona de Acampada where tubs of water were being visited by 4 birds along with other species including European Robin.
A second visit to this area at the weekend proved that it is essential to come in the week as the place was packed with locals picnicking and barbequing. We pushed on a little further to the Mirador de Chipeque where the view of El Tiede above a sea of cloud were breathtaking. The common orthopteran in these mountains appears to be Broad Green-winged Grasshopper.
Malpais de Guimar
Escaping the busy high mountains we headed to the east coast to explore this little gem. A relatively barren lava field with scattered cardons and tabaiba it had some excellent rock pools and there were at least 13 Cory's Shearwaters passing or lingering offshore. Among the rockpool life were plenty of Spotted Seahares and Rock-pool Blennies.
Bajamar
The green jagged mountainous landscape of the northern part of Tenerife where we are based is a huge contrast to the arid, flat lands of Fuerteventura. We are based in Bajamar on the edge of the lush laural forests of the Anaga massif and this time a car is essential. There are limited possibilities on foot here, partly because access is denied to a lot of the habitat.
That local area does have a couple of small reservoirs and with african crakes and rails very much in the Macaronesian news I have given them a look and found a Glossy Ibis, a small roost of Black-crowned Night Herons and a Garganey. Canarian Kestrels are particularly common with perhaps three pairs in sight of our apartment and Barbary Falcons go over every so often. It's nice to watch the Cattle Egrets feeding here too and the pre/post roost flocks up at the pools have got to c.80. Canary Island Chiffchaffs and Atlantic Canaries are numerous and vocal, while Blackbirds and Blackcaps are common in the barranco and growing areas. The small scale agriculture is also excellent for Barbary Partridge and reptiles. Tenerife Lizard is common and yesterday we found two West Canary Skinks fairly easily. One 'rarity' here was a single Greenfinch.
Butterflies so far have been mainly Small Whites with a few Red Admiral, Canary Speckled Wood and Clouded Yellow. Few dragonflies and nothing settling for ID as yet.
Parque Rural de Anaga
Our first few trips out were into the Anaga Rural Park where there is a vast amount of seemingly unspoilt laurel and juniper forest clinging to the steep peaks. A bit of checking shows that both endemic pigeons have been seen here recently but views from the most popular miradors are rather obscured by nearby tall vegetation. However the viewpoint at Pico del Ingles gives largely uninterrupted views across a huge amount of excellent habitat. On my first visit I only got one unidentifiable glimpse and followed this with a Laurel Pigeon flying away much lower down near Los Batanes. Disappointingly this was right at the base of the forest zone and was with Feral Pigeons! Not the experience I had expected. However on my last visit to Pico del Ingles I had 10 sightings of pigeons over about 2 hours. 8 of these were Laurel Pigeons, always singly in flight and sometimes very close. I even had one perched for a while, although the heat shimmer was bad making photography pointless. I also heard them calling here and it seems there are probably one or two resident just under the western edge of the viewpoint. The other two sightings were of Bolle's Pigeon, both single birds flying away over the next ridge to the west. Not terribly satisfactory views but the salient features noted. Then as I drove off from here a Bolle's Pigeon flushed from above the car and flew in front of me for a few seconds giving incredible views of the banded tail!
A bit of walking along trails through this forest revealed that seeing the pigeons would be very difficult away from the miradors as the paths pass through the dense cover with little in the way of views. They do however have a fair few Tenerife Goldcrests, the odd Canary Island Great Spotted Woodpecker, African Blue Tits and plenty of Canary Island Common Chaffinches. Really taken with this race and with it's distinctive plumage and different vocals surely must be as good a species as the Chiffchaff or Blue Tit (as proposed here Sequential colonization of oceanic archipelagos led to a species-level radiation in the common chaffinch complex (Aves: Fringilla coelebs)).
Punta del Hidalgo
A short way north along the coast from us is the end of the road and the faded resort of Punta del Hidalgo. Attractive from a birding point of view as it has some abandoned coastal agriculture and scrub on a bit of a headland, which must be first landfall for birds from the north and west and has some potential for seawatching. Indeed there are two rather new-looking hides here with some excellently illustrated information panels. A few waders use the rocky shoreline and the small fields and scrub hold a couple of Sardinian Warblers and the only Berthelot's Pipits I've seen so far but the sea is the main attraction.
My first check just came up with a single Cory's Shearwater but on 9th Feb the wind swung around to the south and I was treated to 31 Cory's and a single Barolo Shearwater heading north. This latter was a particularly pleasing lifer as I was one of the many seawatchers at Pendeen on 5th October last year enjoying the likes of Leach's Petrels and Sabine's Gulls while just three others got onto one passing there unseen by everyone else.
The beautiful and dramatic barranco here is walkable and there are Iberian Water Frogs in the pools higher up. Common Buzzards, Barbary Falcons and Kestrels were having spats over the twin rocky peaks of Los Hermanos to the north.
Las Raices
On the 10th we ventured a little further afield to the recreational areas in the mountains SW of the capital on the way to El Teide. An easy 5-6km circuit here through open pine forest was a pleasant change to the dense cover of Anaga and the wildlife pretty good too. Highlight was at the Zona Recreativa where someone had put down some food that was attracting several species including the Tenerife Blue Chaffinch. Seen in the pines earlier on the walk it was nice to get close views of this endemic along with excellent views of the Common Chaffinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker and African Blue Tit. It was also close to here that we saw two Tenerife Geckos, the second one posing very nicely for the camera. There were more Tenerife Blue Chaffinches to the north at the Zona de Acampada where tubs of water were being visited by 4 birds along with other species including European Robin.
A second visit to this area at the weekend proved that it is essential to come in the week as the place was packed with locals picnicking and barbequing. We pushed on a little further to the Mirador de Chipeque where the view of El Tiede above a sea of cloud were breathtaking. The common orthopteran in these mountains appears to be Broad Green-winged Grasshopper.
Malpais de Guimar
Escaping the busy high mountains we headed to the east coast to explore this little gem. A relatively barren lava field with scattered cardons and tabaiba it had some excellent rock pools and there were at least 13 Cory's Shearwaters passing or lingering offshore. Among the rockpool life were plenty of Spotted Seahares and Rock-pool Blennies.
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Brian Stone
A Stone chatting
Brian Stone
A Stone chatting
Others including White-banded Digger Bee.
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leonardo_simon
Well-known member
Thanks Brian - great write up!
Brian Stone
A Stone chatting
Thanks. Yes, I've been aware but a long way away. Should be down there Thursday and have some advice on where to look. Recent efforts have mostly involved seawatching from Punta Del Hidalgo but only turned up 2 Gannets on 17th Feb and 2 more on 20th and a whole lot more Cory's Shearwaters, including 304 in 90 minutes. Got visitors at the moment so birding a little slower.
Most interesting sighting was a Barbary Partridge seen flying over the sea and then settling on it for a while on 17th but have a bunch of Lizard and insect photos to share at some point.
Saw another Blue Chaffinch early today at Área Recreativa Ramón el Caminero while waiting for the road to Teide from La Orotava to open (closed due to ice).
Brian Stone
A Stone chatting
Great. Could you send me a pin of where you had it please? Hoping to have a go tomorrow when we run the guests back to the south airport.
45 minutes a Hidalgo from 11:40 this morning was another Cory's fest with 121 going north but again nothing else.
There’s rockpool all along here until the main beach starts (by the MacDonald’s) with a variety of waders. Not sure the bird was exactly by that pin but along there. About 10 ringed plover along the stretch as well. It’s noticeably thinner looking especially in the head/neck
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leonardo_simon
Well-known member
Brief trip report.
Just got back to the UK after 2 great weeks in the Canary Islands — and can thoroughly recommend the destination. The trip wasn’t a primary birding trip (10 days with friends on Tenerife, 3 days with family in Lanzarote, and a couple of days on my own on Fuerteventura birding) but I did manage to get birding for a few hours most days.
Thanks to @Brian Stone and @opisska and to the forum in general for the information on where to find birds etc. I did have a copy of the 1996 “Birdwatchers Guide to the Canary Islands” by Clarke and Collins, but I think it’s rather dated now. Particularly with regards to access to sites, some of which have been restricted since the book was written.
I enjoyed the mix of endemics on Tenerife, the desert birds on Fuerteventura, and the exotics/introductions/escapes particularly on Fuerteventura. Also was fun trying to find the common UK birds — only got Song Thrush, goldfinch and linnet on the last day. I didn’t spend too much time sea watching (didn’t have a scope) but was happy to find Corys’ shearwaters from the Fuerteventura - Lanzarote ferry.
A few points:
Tenerife endemics - other than the pigeons these were easy to find, anywhere in the Corona Forestal had good supplies of Tenerife Chaffinches (blue and non-blue), goldcrests. Certainly no reason to make a special trip to the oft quoted “Las Lajas picnic area”. Canary island chiffchaffs and African blue tits were everywhere. The two pigeons required a little more work - I found Bolle’s at the GPS co-ordinates supplied by @opisska, Laurel in the Barranco de Ruiz. The challenge in the laurel forests is the weather, as the clouds come in at 1pm….. and need a good clearing to see them. It’s hopeless once you’re in the forest….so I had a couple of wasted afternoon trips to the beautiful Anaga Mountains to see mist and wind….
Desert birds - Fuerteventura was great - I spent 3 sessions doing car birdwatching on the Tindaya plain - which was fabulous although slow. Another morning doing similar in Lanzarote (houbara bustard had been reported near playa Blanca) - but its much more degraded there with more disturbance so was a bit of a waste of time compared with Tindaya.
Lanzarote - the salt works north of playa Blanca had a good selection of waders, and I enjoyed the walk around Haria (in the north) where there’s farmland. But I felt Lanzarote had been hit too hard by wanton destruction of mass tourism to want to return there. Felt a bit dystopian.
Exotics — seem to congregate in the tourist resorts. Makes a change!
Overall a great destination - especially away from the tourist resorts
Just got back to the UK after 2 great weeks in the Canary Islands — and can thoroughly recommend the destination. The trip wasn’t a primary birding trip (10 days with friends on Tenerife, 3 days with family in Lanzarote, and a couple of days on my own on Fuerteventura birding) but I did manage to get birding for a few hours most days.
Thanks to @Brian Stone and @opisska and to the forum in general for the information on where to find birds etc. I did have a copy of the 1996 “Birdwatchers Guide to the Canary Islands” by Clarke and Collins, but I think it’s rather dated now. Particularly with regards to access to sites, some of which have been restricted since the book was written.
I enjoyed the mix of endemics on Tenerife, the desert birds on Fuerteventura, and the exotics/introductions/escapes particularly on Fuerteventura. Also was fun trying to find the common UK birds — only got Song Thrush, goldfinch and linnet on the last day. I didn’t spend too much time sea watching (didn’t have a scope) but was happy to find Corys’ shearwaters from the Fuerteventura - Lanzarote ferry.
A few points:
Tenerife endemics - other than the pigeons these were easy to find, anywhere in the Corona Forestal had good supplies of Tenerife Chaffinches (blue and non-blue), goldcrests. Certainly no reason to make a special trip to the oft quoted “Las Lajas picnic area”. Canary island chiffchaffs and African blue tits were everywhere. The two pigeons required a little more work - I found Bolle’s at the GPS co-ordinates supplied by @opisska, Laurel in the Barranco de Ruiz. The challenge in the laurel forests is the weather, as the clouds come in at 1pm….. and need a good clearing to see them. It’s hopeless once you’re in the forest….so I had a couple of wasted afternoon trips to the beautiful Anaga Mountains to see mist and wind….
Desert birds - Fuerteventura was great - I spent 3 sessions doing car birdwatching on the Tindaya plain - which was fabulous although slow. Another morning doing similar in Lanzarote (houbara bustard had been reported near playa Blanca) - but its much more degraded there with more disturbance so was a bit of a waste of time compared with Tindaya.
Lanzarote - the salt works north of playa Blanca had a good selection of waders, and I enjoyed the walk around Haria (in the north) where there’s farmland. But I felt Lanzarote had been hit too hard by wanton destruction of mass tourism to want to return there. Felt a bit dystopian.
Exotics — seem to congregate in the tourist resorts. Makes a change!
Overall a great destination - especially away from the tourist resorts
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opisska
rabid twitcher
Have you ever tried for the Semipalmated plover in PdA? The word doesn't occur in the thread after the last mention of you probably going there, so you may not have?
I will arrive to Teneriffe tomorrow, just for a night's layover before the ferry to La Palma, but I could try to catch it before dusk - so any intel would be hugely appreciated!
I will arrive to Teneriffe tomorrow, just for a night's layover before the ferry to La Palma, but I could try to catch it before dusk - so any intel would be hugely appreciated!
I got it a week ago. You want to be fairly high tide, enough to push birds near the path but probably not enough to send them all to the same place (although possibly it’s minor structural/jizz differences from ringed plover might actually benefit from direct comparison) There’s 500-600m of rockpools at the south end of playa des America’s beach with a range of waders in smallish numbers. About 10 ringed plover as well as spp.
leonardo_simon
Well-known member
No I didn't try.
wolfbirder
Well-known member
I’m at Fuerteventura tomorrow hoping for tropicbirds then ferry to Tenerife for 5 days. Is the SP Plover still present?
wolfbirder
Well-known member
Thx Chris, looking forward to it but not expecting much. Did badly on my last brief trip to Tenerife so hoping to get a few I failed to see last time. The ten hour ferry from Fuerteventura to Tenerife could be interesting or more likely dead….. a dedicated seawatching day, but with my old eyes I’d probably miss an albatross flying by
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