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Canary Islands (Spain) Birding Trip Report
Jan 15 - Jan 26, 2008
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TOTAL SPECIES SEEN - 36
Introduced species - 2
Native species- 34
Endemic species - 9
Day 1 Jan 15
Arrived Canary Islands
Day 2 Jan 16
Birded around hotel in Costs Adeje and found Goldfinch, Berthelot's Pipit, Blackbird, Eurasian Collared Dove, Canary Islands Chiffchaff . Drove to Erjos Ponds where we saw the results of the large fire that had burned the area in 2007...found Coot & Moorhen,..near Masca saw Kestrel then drove to Los Gigantes and photographed Osprey from highway.
Day 3 Jan 17
Drove to Vilaflor and then to Las Lajas . Blue Chaffinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, African Blue Tit,Canary Island's Kinglet, and Island Canary found and photographed. Observing the different endemic species here was easy as the guide and bird reports mention.
We then visited Tiede where we saw Berthelot's Pipit. Continued towards La Orotava and along the way photographed Plain swift. Stopped by Icod de Los Vinos and the up towards Erjos where we attempted to get to Monte del Agua but we had to turn around at entrance to Laurel forest due to pipeline work going on along road ! Found Canary, Sardinian Warbler and Common Chaffinch.
Day 4 Jan 18
Drove to area along coast near airport. Only birded two hours. Windy.
Day 5 Jan 19
Landed Fuerteventura and began birding @ 1PM Cecilia spotted 2 Egyptian Vultures near Las Pocetas and I photographed them..also Barbary Partridge ,House Martin,Linnet,Trumpeter Finch,Kestrel,Buzzard and Hoopoe. Drove to La Pared and drove ridge road and made big circle...photographed Lesser Short-toed Lark ...no Bustards seen....Drove East of FV605 on dirt road half way up towards La Pared and photographed both Cream coloured Courser and Black-bellied Sandgrouse.
Day 6 Jan 20 Very windy
Walked from H10 Tindaya Hotel up towards wind farm then on South side of large arroyo.2 Houbara Bustard seen @ 100 meters distant for @ 1 minute. Did not attempt to photograph. They moved and I could not find them. 3-4 groups of Sandgrouse seen but no coursers. Drove to Morro Jable no birding and then in afternoon re-drove the two roads I checked yesterday but nothing found...3:30-4:30PM.
Day 7 Jan 21
Very windy. Drove to Corralejo and took ferry to Lanzarote...turned back to high winds. Did not see any seabirds in channel between Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. Drove to El Cotillo and checked area south of town. @ 2:30 PM found 2 Houbara Bustards. Watched for 15 minutes but very far away. Returned @4PM and found one of the two seen earlier, a displaying Male Bustard. Watched displaying four times and was able to photograph. Spectacular!!
Also photographed a Whimbrel and saw one group of 5 Sandgrouse.
Day 8 Jan 22
Cloudy and cool. Drove to Morro Jable and photographed Yellow-legged Gull and Cattle Egret near lighthouse.
Then walked Barranco Mal Nombre from F2 to ocean. Only birds were a single Southern Grey Shrike and 2 Spanish Sparrows which were photographed. Photographed Sanderlings on beach. Went to windsurfing beach and photographed Kentish Plovers.
Day 9 Jan 23
Flew to Tenerife. Drove to Punta Teno. Saw 1 Kestrel. Drove to Playa Arenas. No birding. Nice in AM then cloudy.
Day 10 Jan 24
Went to Teide NP. No birding today. Nice in AM then cloudy
Day 11 Jan 25
Observed and photographed Laurel Pigeons on La Gomera at roadside stop between the two lookouts. Observed approximateley 18 pigeons during 2.5 hours of watching that included 2 perched Laurel Pigeons. Excellent weather.
Day 12 Jan 26
Returned to Hungary
The weather in the Canary Islands during our visit was mostly sunny with only 2 days with no sun. On Fuerteventura ,we expiernced high winds for 2 days that created haze in the atmosphere.
CANARY ISLAND SIGHTINGS LIST (36) PHOTOGRAPHED (32)
TENERIFE (19 species)
Blue Chaffinch ENDEMIC
Canary Island's Chiffchaff ENDEMIC
Plain Swift ENDEMIC
Canary Island's Kinglet ENDEMIC
Blue Tit ENDEMIC
Island Canary ENDEMIC MACRONESIAN
Berthelot's Pipit ENDEMIC MACRONESIAN
Blue Tit ENDEMIC
Collared Dove
Goldfinch
Blackbird
Osprey
Great-spotted Woodpecker
Sardinian Warbler
Rock Dove
Kestrel
Buzzard
Rock Sparrow?
Barbary Falcon?
FUERTEVENTURA (16 species) (total number of birds seen)
Houbara Bustard (4)
Egyptian Vulture (2)
Cream coloured Courser(1)
Black-bellied Sandgrouse( 6 groups of 2-7 birds)
Hoopoe(2)
Trumpeter Finch (1)
Barbary Partridge (many)
Lesser Short-toed Lark (many)
House Martin
Linnet (1)
Whimbrel (1)
Sanderling (35)
Yellow-legged Gull (many)
Kentish Plover(25)
Cattle Egret (3)
Spanish Sparrow (2)
Buzzard (many)
Raven
Rock Dove
Kestrel
Grey Heron
GOMERA (2 species)
Laurel Pigeon ENDEMIC
Common Buzzard
ALOHA
Michael Walther
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Oahu Nature Tours
Phone: 808-924-2473 Fax: 808-924-5395
E-mail: natureguide@oahunaturetours.com
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Hawaii Birding Tours, Inc., 1995
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