Back

CANARY ISLANDS 2001

Well another year and another successful trip to the Canary Islands.

Due to the flight times we had very little time for any birding on Tenerife before meeting up for dinner, but some managed to squeeze in a few minutes in the grounds of our mountain retreat – the Hotel Alta Montaña in Vilaflor. Whilst enjoying a pre-dinner drink on the patio and watching our first Macaronesian endemic, the ubiquitous Plain Swift, we recorded our first surprise of the trip in the form of a superb Alpine Swift. Unfortunately it only made one very close fly past and so was not seen by everyone.

Our first full day in the field saw us on our way to the neighbouring island of La Gomera, in search of the two endemic species of pigeon which can only be found in the few remaining areas of Atlantic Laurel forest. Fortunately La Gomera can boast the largest tract of this type of forest, which is protected by the Garajonay National Park. Our other objectives for today were the seabirds that can be seen from the ferry transporting us from Los Cristianos on Tenerife to the port of San Sebastian de La Gomera. It soon became obvious that Cory’s Shearwaters were the common bird in the area and we were treated to the usual stunning views as they effortlessly flew over what few waves they could find. Suddenly the discovery of two rather distant Little Shearwaters sparked us into life but they were only seen by a fortunate few. Next a Bulwer’s Petrel came flying by and was enjoyed by most if not by all. Still the return crossing this evening would give us a second chance for these pelagic species.

As previously mentioned La Gomera is home to both the endemic pigeons of the Canary Islands – the Bolle’s Pigeon and the Laurel Pigeon. Our first stop at the Bar La Carbonera produced flight views of both these species but it took a little bit more effort before we were treated to some stunning looks through the telescope at a perched Laurel Pigeon. Bolle’s Pigeon managed to avoid the telescope for the rest of our time on the island so we would just have to try harder back on Tenerife. The evening sea crossing was very similar to what we experienced in the morning but by the end of the day virtually everyone had seen both Bulwer’s Petrel and Little Shearwater.

The following day at 07.30 we were on the move again but this time by air on the internal flight to Fuerteventura. Here we were to spend our next two days searching for the specialities of this island including the endemic Canary Islands Chat and the far more widespread but highly endangered, on a world scale, Houbara Bustard. We had a great first day including excellent views of a couple of male Canary Island Chats and a good supporting cast including Egyptian Vulture, Cream-coloured Courser, Black-bellied Sandgrouse and a vagrant Black-eared Wheatear. But despite a thorough search we couldn’t locate any Houbara Bustards so something would just have to wait until the next morning. With an intense sense of anticipation we were in the desert soon after dawn and it didn’t take too much time to locate two Houbara Bustards strutting across a sandy hillside. Eventually with a bit of luck combined with the knowledge of the tracks we got some good close views of both these birds. The rest of the day was taken up with the hunt for the local race of Blue Tit. This bird has the potential of becoming a full species in the not too distant future and so we were all happy when we located one in a tamarisk bush at Vega de Rio Palmas.

For the remainder of the tour we were back on Tenerife except for the day we spent at sea on a return trip to the island of El Hierro. We explored the mountain Pine forests on the slopes of Mt. Teide, the laurel forests along the spectacular ridge on the Anaga Peninsula and the dry coastal zone in the south of the island. One by one most of our target birds were added and we were treated to the usual great views of Blue Chaffinch among the Pines of Las Lajas, some good telescope views of perched Bolle’s Pigeons at El Pijaral and some prolonged views of the Tenerife Kinglets on Monte Las Mercedes. The special all day pelagic ferry trip was yet another highlight of the tour as we recorded a total of 42 sightings of Bulwer’s Petrel, four Little Shearwaters, about 1000 Cory’s Shearwaters, four Madeiran Storm-petrels, about eight European Storm-petrels and at least ten unidentified Storm-petrels.

All in all this was another excellent tour to the Canary Islands.

Bird List:

Column 1 = Common name

Column 2 = Number of days recorded

Column 3 = Greatest number recorded

Column 4 = Scientific name

* = Macaronesian endemic

** = Canarian endemic

Bulwer’s Petrel	2	42	Bulweria bulwerii
Cory’s Shearwater	5	1000	Calonectris diomedea borealis*
Little Shearwater	2	4	Puffinus assimilis baroli*
European Storm-petrel	1	8	Hydrobates pelagicus
Madeiran Storm-petrel	1	4	Oceanodroma castro
Storm-petrel sp.	1	10
Little Egret	2	6	Egretta garzetta
Grey Heron	3	2	Ardea cinerea
Egyptian Vulture	2	5	Neophron percnopterus
Eurasian Sparrowhawk	1	1	Accipiter nisus granti*
Common Buzzard	3	5	Buteo buteo insularum**
Common Kestrel	6	5	Falco tinnunculus canariensis**
Common Kestrel	2	5	Falco tinnunculus dacotiae**
Barbary Falcon	1	1	Falco pelegrinoides
Eurasian Coot	2	25	Fulica atra
Houbara Bustard	1	2	Chlamydotis undulata fuertaventurae**
Stone-curlew	2	6	Burhinus oedicnemus insularum**
Stone-curlew	1	15	Burhinus oedicnemus distinctus**
Cream-coloured Courser	2	20	Cursorius cursor
Little Ringed Plover	2	8	Charadrius dubius
Green Sandpiper	1	1	Tringa ochropus
Yellow-legged Gull	8	50	Larus cachinnans atlantis*
Common Tern	2	4	Sterna hirundo
Black-bellied Sandgrouse	2	26	Pterocles orientalis
Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon	8	30	Columba livia
Bolle’s Pigeon**	3	12	Columba bollii
Laurel Pigeon**	2	10	Columba junoniae
European Collared Dove	8	30	Streptopelia decaocto
European Turtle Dove	8	25	Streptopelia turtur
Laughing Dove	1	1	Streptopelia senegalensis
Alpine Swift	1	1	Apus melba
Plain Swift*	7	100	Apus unicolor
Pallid Swift	1	1	Apus pallidus brehmorum
Hoopoe	1	4	Upupa epops
Great Spotted Woodpecker	2	10	Dendrocopos major canariensis**
Lesser Short-toed Lark	3	20	Calandrella rufescens polatzeki**
Barn Swallow	1	1	Hirundo rustica
Common House Martin	1	1	Delichon urbica
Berthelot’s Pipit*	7	100	Anthus berthelotii berthelotii**
Grey Wagtail	5	2	Motacilla cinerea canariensis**
(Canary Island) Robin**	3	1	Erithacus rubecula superbus
Black-eared Wheatear	1	1	Oenanthe hispanica
Canary Island Chat**	2	3	Saxicola dacotiae dacotiae
Common Blackbird	5	10	Turdus merula cabrerae*
Spectacled Warbler	4	10	Sylvia conspicillata orbitalis*
Sardinian Warbler	4	10	Sylvia melanocephala leucogastra**
Blackcap	4	3	Sylvia atricapilla heineken
Melodious Warbler	1	1	Hippolais polyglotta
Canary Island Chiffchaff**	6	20	Phylloscopus canariensis
Tenerife Kinglet**	3	10	Regulus teneriffae
Blue Tit	4	5	Parus caeruleus teneriffae**
Blue Tit	1	3	Parus caeruleus degener**
Southern Grey Shrike	3	5	Lanius meridionalis koenigi**
Common Raven	3	10	Corvus corax tingitanus
Spanish Sparrow	7	50	Passer hispaniolensis
Rock Sparrow	1	20	Petronia petronia madeirensis*
Common Chaffinch	2	20	Fringilla coelebs canariensis**
Blue Chaffinch**	2	15	Fringilla teydea teydea**
Atlantic Canary*	6	50	Serinus canaria
Goldfinch	2	5	Carduelis carduelis
Linnet	3	20	Carduelis cannabina meadewaldoi**
Linnet	2	25	Carduelis cannabina harterti**
Trumpeter Finch	2	15	Bucanetes githagineus amantum**
Corn Bunting	1	12	Miliaria calandra