This was a long planned family holiday to celebrate my brother in-laws 40th birthday. We let him decide on location and he fancied Lanzarote, the eastern most of the Canary Islands. This was mainly a relaxation holiday and, having been to the Canary Islands in December 2008 there was only one tick, Gran Canarian Blue Chaffinch, and I didn't plan to do much birding. That said, there are some great birds on the Canary Islands, including on Lanzarote and I pre-planned three part days birding using local guides. It is very easy to bird the islands without a guide but allocating myself with limited birding time I wanted to maximise my success rate by using local knowledge.
We stayed in an all inclusive hotel at the H10 Rubicon Palace at Playa Blanca, it was a decent enough hotel if you like resorts and it worked well for a family holiday. Sarah and I hired a car from Avis to give us some freedom to explore other parts of the island. These were my birding trips:
Lanzarote
On 23rd July Sarah and I were collected by Adolfo of Eco-Insider. The company was recommended to me by our guide on Fuerteventura, Derek Bradbury, and so I contacted Carmen Portella Ernest (info@eco-insider.com) and she arranged the tour for us. We paid 180 Euros for the guide, vehicle and a light lunch. Adolfo was an excellent guide with fantastic knowledge of birds and natural history of the island and perhaps the stand out of the day was his knowledge of the amazing volcanic history and geology of the island. As we travelled he explained the history of each volcano and each volcanic eruption that the island had experienced and explained why the central area of the island was dominated by sand, it was fascinating stuff and gave a real appreciation of the stark beauty of the island.
My main bird targets on the island were all to be found in the desert between Tinajo and Soo and so we spent much of the morning driving the deserts here. As we entered the desert we soon found a mixed flock of Lesser Short-toed Lark (c.30), Linnet (c.15) and Berthelot's Pipit (2) feeding on seeds along the side of the track. Also here was a large flock of Yellow-legged Gull of the subspecies atlantis. We then encountered Great Grey Shrike of the subspecies koenigi which is endemic to the Canary Islands and a very confiding Stone Curlew of the subspecies insularum which is endemic to the eastern Canary Islands. Next our two main targets were quickly seen with two Hourbara Bustard, here of the endemic subspecies fuertaventurae and five Cream-coloured Courser. We drove back to the hotel at 13:00 through the amazing Los Volcanes Natural Park.
Houbara Bustard - Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Houbara Bustard - Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Great Grey Shrike - Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Great Grey Shrike - Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Stone Curlew - Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Stone Curlew - Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Cream-coloured Courser - Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Cream-coloured Courser - Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Yellow-legged Gull - Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Yellow-legged Gull - Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Yellow-legged Gull - Lanzarote, Canary Islands
The remarkable succulent plant Mesembryanthemum crystallinum - Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Los Volcanes Natural Park - Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Gran Canaria
On 24th July I took a 07:00 flight to Gran Canaria landing at 07:45. I met my guide, Daniel Gonzalez Rodriguez (kore_art@hotmail.com), and his interpreter, Oscar Moncur (oscar_moncur@hotmail.com), from the flight and they took me to the site for Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch. Daniel is an excellent naturalist but his English is a little limited, but actually still pretty good. I used Tours by Locals to book my original guide Guillermo B. but unfortunately he was not able to guide because of some family issues. Guillermo then recommended Daniel a very knowledgeable guide. I paid 300 Euros for the tour which in hindsight was fairly expensive but I wanted to make sure that I saw my only tick in quick time, I had read of others spending much time to see the bird or missing it entirely. Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch is one of the rarest breeding birds in Europe numbering around 120-132 pairs.
On meeting Daniel and Oscar we jumped into their 4x4 and were soon winding up the hills towards our target bird high in the pine forests near to La Culata. Much of the pine forests have been replanted after deforestation but it is notable to the eye that some of this is too dense and the pines long and spindly, prone to fire, and lacking the underscrub required by the Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch. We stopped low down at a Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch territory with no luck but did see Canary Island Chiffchaff and Great Spotted Woodpecker of the endemic subspecies thanneri. After spending some time at a view point, Mirador del Pico de los Pozos de la Nieve, where Island Canary was common we headed slightly downslope near to the campsite at Llanos de la Pez to try for the Blue Chaffinch. After a short while a Blue Chaffinch called and there above us was a male Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch, we watched the bird for some time and eventually the bird came to the ground to feed on the seeds of Canary Island Pine Pinus canariensis where it showed incredibly well and was joined by the distinctive canariensis subspecies of Common Chaffinch and eventually by a second Blue Chaffinch. Here we also saw Canary Island Chiffchaff, Great Spotted Woodpecker and the endemic subspecies hedwigii of African Blue Tit. We wandered back to the car picking up a further two male Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch.
Birding a little further down the road we encountered more Canary Island Chaffinch and African Blue Tit plus a couple Common Raven of the subspecies canariensis. After a splendid lunch of cheese, avocado, tomato, bread and a glass of the local white wine we headed back to the airport and I caught a 14:30 back to Lanzarote after a very successful morning.
View from Mirador del Pico de los Pozos de la Nieve - Gran Canaria, Canary Islands
Blue Chaffinch habitat at Llanos de la Pez - Gran Canaria, Canary Islands
Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch - Gran Canaria, Canary Islands
Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch - Gran Canaria, Canary Islands
Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch - Gran Canaria, Canary Islands
Location of Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch - Gran Canaria, Canary Islands
Common Chaffinch - Gran Canaria, Canary Islands
Great Spotted Woodpecker - Gran Canaria, Canary Islands
Gran Canaria Grayling - Gran Canaria, Canary Islands
African Blue Tit - Gran Canaria, Canary Islands
Canary Island Chiffchaff - Gran Canaria, Canary Islands
The bee-fly Villa nigrifrons - Gran Canaria, Canary Islands
Fuerteventura
Sarah and I were up early on the 26th July and caught the 07:00 Almas ferry from Playa Blanca to Fuerteventura. Here we were met at Corralejo by Derek Bradbury of Fuerteventura Birdwatch. I had contacted Derek before the trip as I wanted to visit the island to see Houbara Bustard and Cream-coloured Courser but Derek had advised that due to the drought conditions presently being experienced on the island these two species were very difficult to find as they move to the highlands in such conditions. He advised that these species are easier to see on Lanzarote at present and recommended the services of Eco-Insider. After some discussion with him I still decided that we would still spend the morning birding on the island for a few targets such as Fuerteventura Stonechat and Black-bellied Sandgrouse.
The ferry from Lanzarote took just over 30 minutes and we saw around 50 Cory's Shearwater, a few Yellow-legged Gull and good numbers of Tropical Two-wing Flyingfish Exocoetus volitans. We birded the desert area to the north-east of La Oliva where the highlights were fly-over Black-bellied Sandgrouse (7), a single sub-adult Egyptian Vulture at a feeding station here, Spectacled Warbler (3), Trumpeter Finch (2), Hoopoe (many), Berthelot's Pipit (many), Eurasian Buzzard (10) of the endemic sub-species insularum and Lesser Short-toed Lark (c.20).
We then headed to an area of desert to the north of Tindaya where we hoped to get views of Black-bellied Sandgrouse on the ground but despite a couple of birds in flight we had no luck. Here we only saw Spectacled Warbler, a few Raven and more Common Buzzard. The introduced Barbary Ground-squirrel were numerous.
We then headed to a small barranco on the north slope of Montana de Tindaya where a pair of Fuerteventura Stonechat showed well as did a Little Ringed Plover. We headed for the 14:00 ferry and were back to the hotel for a late lunch at 14:45.
The barren landscape of Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Berthelot's Pipit - Fuerteventura, Canary Islands
Spectacled Warbler - Fuerteventura, Canary Islands
Spectacled Warbler - Fuerteventura, Canary Islands
Barbary Ground-squirrel - Fuerteventura, Canary Islands
Fuerteventura Stonechat (female) - Fuerteventura, Canary Islands
Fuerteventura Stonechat (male) - Fuerteventura, Canary Islands
Fuerteventura Stonechat (male) - Fuerteventura, Canary Islands
Barranco on north slope of Montana de Tindaya, Fuerteventura which supported a pair of Fuerteventura Stonechat
Cory's Shearwater - Between Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Cory's Shearwater - Between Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Cory's Shearwater - Between Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Cory's Shearwater - Between Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, Canary Islands
List of Birds Recorded
We recorded 38 species one of which was a tick for me (shown in bold).
Lanzarote
Rock Dove
Eurasian Collared-dove
Laughing Dove
Plain Swift
African Houbara
Cory's Shearwater
Cattle Egret
Eurasian Thick-knee
Cream-coloured Courser
Yellow-legged Gull
Common Kestrel
Eleonora's Falcon
Peregrine Falcon
Great Grey Shrike
Lesser Short-toed Lark
Northern House Martin
Barn Swallow
Spanish Sparrow
Berthelot's Pipit
Common Linnet
Gran Canaria
Red-legged Partridge
Rock Dove
European Turtle-dove
Eurasian Collared-dove
Plain Swift
Yellow-legged Gull
Eurasian Buzzard
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Common Kestrel
Common Raven
African Blue Tit
Canary Islands Chiffchaff
Common Chaffinch
Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch
European Goldfinch
Island Canary
Fuerteventura
Rock Dove
Eurasian Collared-dove
Black-bellied Sandgrouse
Plain Swift
Cory's Shearwater
Little Ringed Plover
Yellow-legged Gull
Egyptian Vulture
Eurasian Buzzard
Common Hoopoe
Common Kestrel
Great Grey Shrike
Common Raven
Lesser Short-toed Lark
Spectacled Warbler
Fuerteventura Stonechat
Spanish Sparrow
Berthelot's Pipit
Trumpeter Finch
Common Linnet
