Tenerife & La Gomera: the specialities

We roll on, out of the Fuerteventuran desert and into the steep laurisilva forest on Tenerife and La Gomera. There are relatively few species of birds here, but they are generally of interest – a few endemics, and some distinct races of common European birds.

Perhaps the best known endemics are Bolle’s and Laurel Pigeons. We spent quite a bit of time standing around at various vantage points over the forest looking for these – they tend to be gloriously picturesque places in their own right. It wasn’t too difficult to get reasonable flight views of both species (though La Gomera is clearly better for Laurel – I only saw one on Tenerife), and the distinctive tail patterns make ID pretty straightforward on all but the briefest of views. However, seeing either species perched up for scope views is quite a mission, and though I did manage it in the end, neither were close. Now, excuses made, here are the photos – Bolle’s first, then Laurel:

I think these are known as ‘record shots’!

Never mind – another Canarian endemic species showed rather better. Blue Chaffinch inhabit the pine forest around 1200-1800m above sea level on Tenerife, and are pretty easily encountered around various picnic sites – we also found a couple around a bar/restaurant high up in the Teide National Park! I never quite got the killer shot I wanted, since they were very reluctant to come out of the shade, but this is OK…

The local tintillon race of Chaffinch is also worth mention, since they’re so smart.

Canary Islands Chiffchaff has only recently been split as a species, but after spending a bit of time looking at (and listening to) them, they seem quite different to ‘our’ collybita birds in various regards. As with many island-dwelling species / sub-species, they have a longer, thinner bill, and the face pattern is dominated by a strong supercilium, rather than an eyering. The primary projection is also very short, accentuating the length of the tail. Finally, the song is really distinctive – a very halting, spiky series of notes, recalling Cetti’s Warbler as the Collins says. Here’s a couple of pics:

The Chiffchaffs were absolutely all over the place, feeding low down a lot of the time rather like a Wren would do here. Another very common bird, yet still new to us was the Canary itself. These were smarter than I’d expected, and the sound of groups of birds calling and singing was very easy on the ear.

Fuerteventura Scenery

Before I plough on with Tenerife and La Gomera, it would be rude not to post a few scenic pics from Fuerteventura. There are some great landscapes there (as long as you don’t mind sand and stones!), especially in the mountains around the beautiful village of Betancuria and Rio Palmas, where most of these were taken.

Fuerteventura: Common birds… and a mega!

I mentioned before that we targeted a few sites with fresh water on the island, since these tend to pull in a variety of species, regularly including rarities. One of sites was the pool at Rosa de Catalina Garcia, which had just produced the goods in a big way just a few days before our arrival: a vagrant Allen’s Gallinule from sub-Saharan Africa, and something of a Western Palearctic mega.

On arrival at the site, we found a predictably large number of Canarian twitchers – none, and just one guy who’d travelled from Germany! He’d seen the bird the day before, and after about an hour’s wait, it reappeared and showed well for a few minutes, often climbing around a few feet up in the reeds. Never particularly close, this is the best shot I managed. It really was that bright blue!

Catalina Garcia held a number of other decent birds, including a 1w/fem Blue-winged Teal, a Spotted Crake, and a remarkable range of waders over a couple of visits : Little Stint, Greenshank, Spotted Redshank, 4 Black-tailed Godwit, Black-winged Stilt, 2 Ruff, up to 18 Little Ringed, a few Ringed and a Kentish Plover, a couple of Dunlin, and a few Common Sandpiper. And I missed a Yellow-browed Warbler, and a Eurasian Bittern which had been seen a few days earlier! All this around a pool no more than 100m across…

Another (rather less spectacular) lifer was bagged easily on a brief wander outside our hotel on the very first morning: Berthelot’s Pipits turned out to be pretty abundant in any suitable habitat, including rough ground earmarked for further development, and even around mirador (viewpoint) laybys – so no habitat shortage there! At times, these were coming closer than my 1.8m minimum focus distance.

A few other pics of relatively common species now – first, an almost hand-tame Raven at another mirador. Not a bird you often see particularly close (leaving the Tower of London aside).

Ruddy Shelducks were all over the place on Fuerteventura. The first breeding record on the island was not long ago, in 1994, but a small population has clearly built up – our peak count was around 120 at Embalse de Los Molinos. There was also an apparent roost gathering of 25+ at Catalina Garcia late afternoon.

The common sparrow on the islands is Spanish – smart birds!

Next, perhaps a bird you wouldn’t have down as common – but Spectacled Warblers were also all over the place, usually picked up initially by their rattlesnake like call.

And finally, one of my favourite birds of the trip: Blue Tits! When you go out of your way to see these in a different context, and they’re strikingly different to the regular British race, you realise just how good value the whole species is – if Blue Tit was rare in the UK, it would pull an enormous crowd!

These are all the degener race found on Fuerteventura. In addition to the very dark blue cap and darker mantle shown by all birds on the Canaries, this race also shows a wing bar, similar to the African ultramarinus race that occurs in Morocco.