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La Palma July 2025 (1 Viewer)

R

ReinierB

Well-known member
Netherlands
Good day,

I am a birder and mostly active at the binoculars thread.
I have planned a visit at La Palma with my family (wife and three small children) for two weeks at the end of july. I have already been in Tenerife (november) and Fuerteventura (february). I know those islands are generally better for birds. However, I will enjoy La Palma for the scenery, butterflies, etc. and the good weather for sure. I have also read that La Palma is laid back and attracts other tourists than say Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura.

I am hoping to get some decent views of white tailed laurel pigeon, bolle's pigeon, barbary falcon, barbary partridge and hopefully some shearwaters and petrels (what species are possible?). Other birds I don't know still exist on La Palma: spectacled warbler, hoopoe, great grey shrike, short-toed lark, rock sparrow. Does anyone know?

Can someybode give me some tips where to see the good birds? Can somebody recommend a travel guide / book as well? A guide telling something about nature/birds?

I hoop to hear from you who has the knowledge.

Kind regards,
Reinier
 
Hi Renier
I was in la Palma in 2023
See attached ebird lists: Sign in
For both the pigeon species I recommend Los Tilos in the north. Go early. You'll also find here the La Palma subspecies of Chaffinch, Goldcrest, Robin, Blackbird, Buzzard and Sparrowhawk
Spectacled Warbler around the pools just by (and under!) the airport
Chough up in the mountains. Barbary partridge an Canary around the Caldera de Taburiente visitor's center and Mirador de la Cumbrecita
The salinas at Fuencaliente can be good and the reservoir at Barlovento is also worth checking out. Barbary falcon can turn up mostly anywhere

Hope this helps
Steve
 
I've been out on sport fishing boats quite a few times on the west coast. By far the main shearwater will be Cory's, which if you're lucky can appear in numbers, feeding on baitfish that are pushed up by dolphins or other pelagic predators. Bulwer's petrels appear every now and then, but need to be more carefully searched for. Spotted dolphins are regularly seen. I've also seen Bryde's whales and pilot whales, and there's a good chance that you may see loggerhead turtles.

Unfortunately the whale watch boats tend to spend only a couple hours offshore, then come back in and go along the coast, which is quite picturesque, but if you're specifically looking for wildlife you want to be further out the whole time.
 
ESTEBANNIC said:
Hi Renier
I was in la Palma in 2023
See attached ebird lists: Sign in
For both the pigeon species I recommend Los Tilos in the north. Go early. You'll also find here the La Palma subspecies of Chaffinch, Goldcrest, Robin, Blackbird, Buzzard and Sparrowhawk
Spectacled Warbler around the pools just by (and under!) the airport
Chough up in the mountains. Barbary partridge an Canary around the Caldera de Taburiente visitor's center and Mirador de la Cumbrecita
The salinas at Fuencaliente can be good and the reservoir at Barlovento is also worth checking out. Barbary falcon can turn up mostly anywhere

Hope this helps
Steve
Click to expand...
Hi Steve,

Thanks for your reply! Somehow I cannot see your ebird list. Can you somehow share ist with me? EuropeanRoller is my name.
Thanks for the tips. The first week I will stay in Barlovento. So not too far away from Los Tilos. You mean really early in the morning? Were you there in summer as well? The second week I will stay near Puerto Naos.

Did you manage to see the barbary falcon? I haven't seen it mentioned on a lot of trip reports.

Not many birds an La Palma, I know, that's why I will go for quality instead of quantity. So I hope to get some good views of the pigeons, barbary falcon, barbary partridge (good tips!) and spectacled warbler (salinas at Fuencaliente might be a good place too?).
What could be seen a the reservoir of Barlovento? The reservoir itself has little birds I read?

Thanks again,
Reinier
 
Patudo said:
I've been out on sport fishing boats quite a few times on the west coast. By far the main shearwater will be Cory's, which if you're lucky can appear in numbers, feeding on baitfish that are pushed up by dolphins or other pelagic predators. Bulwer's petrels appear every now and then, but need to be more carefully searched for. Spotted dolphins are regularly seen. I've also seen Bryde's whales and pilot whales, and there's a good chance that you may see loggerhead turtles.

Unfortunately the whale watch boats tend to spend only a couple hours offshore, then come back in and go along the coast, which is quite picturesque, but if you're specifically looking for wildlife you want to be further out the whole time.
Click to expand...
Thanks!
Cory's shearwater and bulwer's petrel will both be new species for me. So I definitely will book a whale/dolphin watch boat (also for the whales, dolphins, turtles, flying fish? of course), but it's a pity they do not spend a lot of time at open sea as you menionted. Too bad there aren't companies offering boat trips especially for birders (as they do at Lanzerote and Madeira).
 
ReinierB said:
Nice!
What did you do the other two days? You went to another island? Or did you just stop birding and spend more time with your family?
Click to expand...
The latter. Although I still did some birdwatching around the resort, but not good enough for a whole chekclist. Veel plezier op La Palma.
 
Dutchbirder64 said:
We stayed in the south at La Palma Princess which was excellent for sea watching out of my room.
Click to expand...
What did you see out of your room? I think I will bring a small scope with me, but I am not sure. What is to see near the coast? Just the more common/regular species? If have never seen a cory's shearwater or Bulwer's Petrel though.
 
Out of our room if you can do some seawatching Cory's is nearly a 100% chance. Bulwer's Petrel will be tough. I had some of them at the south point of Tenerife. Maybe you can do a pelagic out of Tazacorte. I did too, but they are more into dolphins and whales. my checklist is historical so I noted 1 of every species I saw, but at the southern point at the lighthouse I saw nearly 60 Cory's in two hours of seawatching.

 

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