Canary Islands (Tenerife, La Gomera, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote)

28.12.2002 – 13.01.2003

(Ingo Waschkies, comments to ingotkfr@yahoo.fr)

Introduction

This trip was a combined hiking & birdwatching (& sightseeing) holiday with my girl-friend Conny. Since Conny can't just visit one island, we did some island hopping and went to Tenerife, La Gomera, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. The good point is of course that we were able to see more of the Canaries' specialties. My parents stayed on Tenerife during the same period and we sometimes joined them. Conny had planned the trip from Switzerland and had booked cars, flights, ferries and accomodation in advance.

On Tenerife, we usually did long hikes and didn't spend much time birdwatching, although we visited some interesting sites en passant. We stayed in Puerto de la Cruz in the northern part of the island which is of course crowded with tourists but quite calm in comparison to the south coast. The only "target" on Tenerife was Blue Chaffinch which is rather easy to find (if you know where to look – my parents had been to Tenerife twice without seeing any because they just didn't bother to visit any of the often crowded picnic places). Apart from a short stop (1 hour or so) near El Pijaral in the Anaga mountains we didn't try for laurel pigeons on Tenerife postponing that to La Gomera. We did not take (nor have) the time to visit the southern areas of Tenerife which might have produced American vagrants, a few waders, some steppe birds (which are be easier to find on Fuerteventura anyway) and probably Red-throated Pipit at one of the Golf courses.

We took the speed boat to La Gomera which is not well suited for bird watching since it has no accessible deck (although there is some space in the open at the rear end of the ship), but anyway, late december is not the time for seawatching. Being based in Hermigua, we spent the two mornings on La Gomera in the El Cedro laurel forest searching for pigeons. Laurel Pigeon was easily seen but we had no good sighting of Bolle's (that we had fortunately seen very well on our hike in the Anaga mountains). The two afternoons were filled with short hikes. We took the tiny plane (19 seats) from La Gomera to Fuerteventura (via Tenerife Norte) which gives you fantastic (but expensive) views on the Teide mountain.

Contrary to Tenerife, birding came first on Fuerteventura, my interest being to see steppe birds, especially Houbara Bustard. We stayed at the very nice Casa Isaitas in Pajara. Houbaras were seen fairly well but if you don't care about Canary Island Chat and Black-bellied Sandgrouse, the Teguise steppes on Lanzarote were much more productive. We actually did see the specialty birds (like Houbara Bustard, Cream-coloured Coursor and Canary Island Chat) quite well on the first day, and again on the second. After spending two full mornings and having seen quite a bit of Fuerteventura, we became more or less bored. Although the desert landscapes are quite impressive somehow (from our point of view) Fuerteventura can't compete with Tenerife. If I had to plan again, I would stay just one day on Fuerteventura and one more on Lanzarote and La Gomera.

We took the ferry from Fuerteventura to Lanzarote. On Lanzarote, we only had time for the typical sightseeing program, visiting the Timafaya national park and the Manriques sites. However, I managed to get one hour in the Teguise steppes on the first morning (which became 1 1/2 because of the fantastic views of Houbaras) and some time to scan the Riscos de Famara in the afternoon, which unfortunately didn't produce any Barbary Falcon. On our last day we had a brief stop at the Tachiche Golf Course to see Barbary Partridge and I spent an hour at the salines at Los Cocoteros while Conny visited the Cactus garden.

Here's the exact itinerary:

28.12.2002 Flight to Tenerife

29.12.2002 Tenerife (Miradores between Aguamansa and El Portillo, hike in the Cañadas del Teide)

30.12.2002 Tenerife (Anaga mountains, long Faro de Anaga hike starting from Chamorga)

31.12.2002 Tenerife (car tour in north-western part of Tenerife, went down to Puerto de la Cruz in the afternoon)

01.01.2003 Tenerife (hike into the spectacular Masca gorge)

02.01.2003 Tenerife (hike on the Guajara with my parents)

03.01.2003 Tenerife (Anaga, hike from Punta de Hidalgo along the canals)

04.01.2003 Tenerife to La Gomera (Ferry, hike into the Barranco de Las Lajas)

05.01.2003 La Gomera (El Cedro laurel forest, hike near Playa de Santiago)

06.01.2003 La Gomera to Fuerteventura (El Cedro laurel forest, car tour, flight)

07.01.2003 Fuerteventura (Jandia desert, Barranco de Las Peñitas)

08.01.2003 Fuerteventura (El Cotillo coastal steppes, hike near La Oliva, La Oliva steppes)

09.01.2003 Fuerteventura (Embalse de Los Molinos, hike from Antigua to Betancuria and back again)

10.01.2003 Fuerteventura to Lanzarote (Ferry, coastal steppes near Tindaya, very brief stop at the Janubio Salines, during the late afternoon visit of Timafaya National Park)

11.01.2003 Lanzarote (Steppes near Teguise, Risco Cliffs, Car Tour & hike in the late afternoon on the Montaña de Guardilama)

12.01.2003 Lanzarote à Zurich (Tachiche Golf Course, Los Cocoteros salines, short car tour)

Some useful books

A Birdwatcher's Guide to the Canary Islands by Tony Clarke & David Collins, Prion, (ISBN 1 871104 06 8), very good and highly recommandible, as a general rule: the roads are of much better quality today than 1996

Lonely Planet – Canary Islands a lonely planet is always helpful

Rother Wanderführer - Teneriffa by Klaus & Annette Wolfsperger

a very good hiking guide to Tenerife (but in German), small with good maps and adaquate description (although usually they exaggerate the difficulty of the walk)

Sunflower Landscapes (Fuerteventura, Lanzarote)

adaquate, but maps are badly organised

A quick remark about the weather

Winter is „rainy season“ on the Canary Islands, so you can actually get quite a bit of bad weather. However, weather conditions are very local – and although there had been rain on Tenerife while we were there, we never saw any on our hikes, only sunshine and blue sky.

Similar situation on La Gomera, although the laurel forest was sometimes hidden in the clouds. On Fuerteventura however, it was cold and windy every day with clouds and rain (but not really much rain). This was not too bad since we hadn’t planned any big hikes anyway and scanning the steppes with a scope wasn’t any problem even during the late morning (but birds tended to be most active between 8 30 and 10 30). Moreover, some birds thought that spring had arrived, for instance the Houbara Bustards started displaying. On Lanzarote the weather was all right, but mostly windy, never quite warm and changing all the time.

List of "interesting" birds (for a visitor from central Europe)

Seabirds	not one seabird seen on both ferry trips
Egyptian Vulture	seen on Fuerteventura, on two occasions near Betancuria and also close to the Embalse de Los Molinos
Barbary Falcon	the road to the Teno Cliffs was closed, we dipped on it at the Riscos de Famara on Lanzarote, had a distant probable flyby on Fuerteventura
Barbary Partridge	2 sightings on La Gomera, several sightings at the Embalse at Las Peñitas and at Tachiche Golf Course on Lanzarote
Houbara Bustard	one of the most spectacular birds of the Canary Islands and my "most wanted", a single male in Jandia desert was displaying, distant sightings in El Cotillo (2), Tindaya (1) and La Oliva (1) steppes , seen much better in Teguise (4 or 5) steppes on Lanzarote, a male was displaying there, too, the displaying usually starts later in the year, but the rainy period had started very early this year.
Stone Curlew	we didn’t find any on Fuerteventura (bad luck, I guess), but had a nice close pair in the Teguise steppes on Lanzarote
Cream-coloured Coursor	seen well in Jandia desert (4+2) and Tindaya (4) steppes, though I had expected to see more, not seen in Lanzarote but probably only due to lack of time
Black-bellied Sandgrouse	seen well and in good numbers both in the Jandia desert (about 20 birds) and even better in El Cotillo coastal steppes (around 40 birds)
Bolles Laurel Pigeon	seen well (flying and perched) and in fair numbers (about a dozen birds on one day if I add the sightings reported by my parents) in the Anaga mountains although the recommended site near El Pijaral was not very productive, surprisingly only two rather distant sightings on La Gomera, where we have seen good numbers of Laurel Pigeons
Laurel Pigeon	seen well (flying and perched) and in good numbers in the El Cedro laurel forest on La Gomera
Plain Swift	in winter only present in small numbers, no definite sightings but 2 high flying swifts above Puerto de la Cruz were thought to be this species, none seen in the flock of Pallid Swifts at the Embalse de Los Molinos (Fuerteventura) where they apparently occur all year round
Monk Parakeet	seen 4+2 in Puerto de la Cruz near the church, however my parents reported good numbers (several dozen?) on the bigger square
Lesser Short-toed Lark	abundant in steppe habitat on Fuerteventura and Lanzarote
Berthelot’s Pipit	abundant, impossible to miss on any island, usually quite tame at any mirador
Canary Islands Chat	endemic to Fuerteventura, but apparently fairly common there in suitable habitat, however, only seen on two occasions, near Pajara and near La Oliva, (but then we didn’t spend much time looking for chats)
Sardinian Warbler	seen only twice on Tenerife, 1 male in Icod de los Vinos, another in the Anaga mountains, probably more common than that, but we were not very enthousiatically searching for passerines on this trip
Spectacled Warbler	surprisingly seen only near La Oliva, where it was common
Canary Islands Chiffchaff	abundant on Tenerife (though numbers probably increased by wintering chiffchaffs, which we usually did not bother to distinguish)
Tenerife Goldcrest	seen only once on Tenerife, heard more frequently, but we never bothered to search, Conny saw some in the laurel forest on La Gomera when I was too busy searching for pigeons
Southern Grey Shrike	common in steppe habitat and cultivations, especially on Fuerteventura, on Tenerife only seen in the Cañadas del Teide
Spanish Sparrow	found in every village on Fuerteventura, common also on Lanzarote, in Tenerife only seen at the church square in Puerto de la Cruz
Rock Sparrow	not seen, I had hoped to see the big flock near the lighthouse in the Teno mountains .... but the road was closed
Blue Chaffinch	easily found on most stops between Aguamansa and El Portillo, numerous at the restaurants near El Portillo
Canary	very common on Tenerife and La Gomera, inevitably seen every day
Trumpeter Finch	seen in good numbers on Fuerteventura, especially common at the Embalse de Los Molinos and the nearby village Las Parcelasr, was usually found close to cultivations or villages

Some remarks about birding sites

We basically followed Clarke & Collins' book, so don't expect to find any new exciting sites here. The list below is more an update on the excellent guide with a few hopefully helpful comments.

Tenerife

Puerto de la Cruz

The small square at the church is good for Spanish Sparrow (which we didn't see anywhere else on Tenerife, though they are probably common in towns) and Monk Parakeet. Due to very loud music we didn't stay more than a second on the big square but my parents told me that there are good numbers of Monk Parakeets (several dozens?). The harbour of Puerto de la Cruz might always produce a surprise and my parents had 2 Curlews and a Little Egret there.

The Mirador with the stone rosetta (or any other stop between Aguamansa and El Portillo)

Any stop might (and probably will) produce Blue Chaffinch, Canary, Tenerife Goldcrest (only seen once, but heard more frequently), Blue Tit, Canary Island Chiffchaff (and probably Chiffchaff, too, but I didn't pay attention), Great Spotted Woodpecker (only seen once) and Kestrel. If you're just interested in Blue Chaffinch, don't stop here. It is much easier to find at El Portillo.

The Visitor Center at El Portillo

This site is maybe not as good as Las Lajas at the southern entry to the Cañadas del Teide which we didn't visit, but if you're based on the northern part of the island, this is nearly an hour more in the car. At El Portillo, you'll see the same species (and more easily) as the miradores apart from Great Spotted Woodpecker. Just pass the visitor center, you'll get into a fenced garden area with several walkways. Take any until you find a small (drinking) pool of water, settle down and you'll get fair numbers of Blue Chaffinch sooner or later (though they can virtually disappear from the area). Blue Chaffinch is also present in good numbers at the restaurants nearby. The short walk to the Risco de la Fortaleza produced three Southern Grey Shrikes, Kestrel and maybe genuine Rock Doves.

Teno mountains

The road to the lighthouse in the northwestern corner of Tenerife was closed due to the danger of landslides. It seemed that the road is not actually destroyed, it evend seemed quite all right as far as you could see, but then there were several warnings in several languages and enough „access forbidden“ – signs to make me turn around. It's a pitty since the cliffs there are reportedly the best site on Tenerife for Barbary Falcon and there should be a large flock of wintering Rock Sparrows in the area.

Anaga mountains

Bolle’s Laurel Pigeon is (probably) not uncommon in the area and my parents saw it twice close to the road from the car while driving the scenic road. We had perfect weather conditions with no cloud obstructing the views. However, the site near El Pijaral from C&C's guide turned out to be not productive with only one very brief and distant sighting in a bit more than one hour (now some people might laugh about my impatience but we had a very long hike ahead of us). My parents visited the site again and saw none (but they didn't stay there very long either). However the walk (Chamorga to El Draguillo to Faro de Anaga to Chamorga) turned out to be very good for Bolle’s. Conny had a first close encounter in the laurel forest not far from Chamorga (unfortunately I had stayed behind for a minute). Just as we entered the cultivations above El Draguillo, we had a superb view of a freely perched Bolle's. The walk then leaves suitable habitat and follows the coastline, but when entering the cultivated area near Chamorga again in the late afternoon we had fine close views of another 5 Bolle's (also very briefly perched). Curiously, C&C do not recommend the area around Chamorga ... well nature can be tricky sometimes . After having seen Bolle's Laurel Pigeon that well on our second day, we decided to spend no more time searching for pigeons on Tenerife since Laurel Pigeon is much easier to find on La Gomera. According to C&C, it is very rare in the Anaga mountains.

Embalse de Valle Molina

Boring site for hardcore birdwatchers. You can use your scope to scan the lake through a locked gate. Coots. A distant Little Egret, but well, it was on our way to Punta del Hidalgo anyway.

Tejina Ponds

Nothing interesting. Some Coots, Moorhens. A lonely male Teal was the only present duck. A Little Egret flew off and a Common Sandpiper was present. We didn't spend more than 15 minutes for both ponds.

Erjos Ponds

Birdless. A single Coot. Good area to see the local subspecies of buzzard with 5 at the ponds and another 8 not far. But I guess, few birdwatchers go to the Canaries to see buzzards...

La Gomera

Bar La Carbonera

Seems to be closed and the car park is no longer accessible. However one or two cars are still able to park there. Very good spot for Laurel Pigeon, though mostly distant flybys from below. Conny had one circling close above her. This site was always free of fog. Surpisingly, we haven't seen any Bolle's there.

Mirador de El Rejo (on the road from Hermigua to El Cedro)

This is a very convenient parking opportunity for two or three cars from which you can easily scan large parts of laurel forest. However, on 03.01.2003 the mirador was in the clouds in the morning with visibility reduced to a few meters and we tried an arbitrary stop below the clouds which was not very productive with 2 distant Bolle's. When we came back from our hike in the evening the mirador was free and we got superb views of Laurel Pigeons circling only meters below us (but saw no more Bolle's). The next day, the mirador was free again and we spent some time between 9 00 and 10 00 here which produced again superb views Laurel Pigeons (4 in total, but again no Bolle's), a Laurel Pigeon perched well visible close by and we spent much time looking at this fine bird.

We haven't been to any othe particular birding spot on La Gomera, but saw most of the commoner birds on our hikes. Worth mentioning are perhaps two sightings of Long-eared Owls flying over the main road in Hermigua at night.

Fuerteventura

Jandia desert near Costa Calma

The desert north of Costa Calma east of the wind park is recommended in Collins and Clarke's book and lived up to our expectaions. Coming from Pajara we drove into the desert until we could see the wind farm. Then the tracks get very rough and we stopped to continue on foot. C&C say that there is a fence somewhere but we never arrived there. Hopping out of the car we stumbled into our first Cream-coloured Coursors and soon enough we flushed Black-bellied Sandgrouse which is common here (around 20), but most sightings were distant flybys. Finally, Conny found a Houbara in reasonable scope distance which soon started to display (but the poor guy seemed to be all alone on the plain).

El Cotillo and Tindaya coastal steppes

This is a fine area of coastal steppes as suitable for steppe birds as much else of Fuerteventura although Collins and Clarke recommend it as a very good place for Houbaras. Following vaguely their description we completely missed the track and turned much too early into the desert thus visiting an active soil extraction site and some dead ends of farm tracks. This zigzag very close to El Cotillo produced two distant views of Houbaras and some Trumpeter Finches. When we were finally on the dirt road (which is in excellent condition) it was already past nine. Regular scanning produced no more Houbaras and no Cream-coloured Coursors, but many good views of Black-bellied Sandgrouse. Instead of turning back, we headed on through the Barranco (where the track is less good but still quite drivable) and then through the Tindaya steppes to Tindaya. On the other side of the barranco, we found another fairly close Houbara, more Black-bellied Sandgrouse (a total of more than 40 on that morning) and five Kentish Plovers.

On our last morning on Fuerteventura we visited the Tindaya steppes again but only for a bit more than an hour. We found a group of 4 or 5 Cream-coloured Coursors and had a flyby by a large falcon, the only possible Barbary Falcon of the trip.

La Oliva

We had decided to climb on Morro Carnero south of La Oliva. Although there is no path there seems to be no problem of trespassing (according to the Sunflower guide). The fields south of La Oliva were quite productive for passerines: for instance Corn Bunting, Canary Island Chat, Linnet, Spectacled Warbler were not hard to find. In the evening we briefly visited the steppe area north-west of La Oliva which produced nothing interesting for me, but Conny had another distant Houbara Bustard here. There were quite a lot of heavy trucks using the dirt road making it unlikely from the start that we might get good views.

Las Peñitas

Good area for Barbary Partridge with a couple of sightings on the short hike. Egyptian Vultures were passing through the Barranco several times. Surprisingly, we saw no Canary Island Chat here, which we did see at one of the miradores between Las Peñitas and Pajara nearby (as is indicated in C&C’s book).

Embalse de Los Molinos (and Las Parcelas)

The area at Las Parcelas is good for Egyptian Vultures (2 in the morning, 1 when we came back later), the very good dirt track from Parcelas to the Embalse de Los Molinos is not signed and easily missed, you have to turn from the main road at the goat farm. The area around the goat farm held a big mixed flock of Berthelot’s Pipit, Lesser Short-toed Lark, Spanish Sparrow and Trumpeter Finch. You can park at the dam where the road ends. We walked on the ridge next to embalse and scanned down with a scope. The tamarisks at the other end of the lake are long dead and there isn’t much other vegetation around. Waterfowl wasn’t really plentiful, a bunch of Coots (20-30), some Teals (4 pairs), a female Gadwall and with them a (female, or at least one with no visible neck ring) Ruddy Shelduck. Oddly, we didn’t feel very excited about the Ruddy Shelduck, it behaved a bit too much like an escaped bird – while the Teals decided to fly to the other end of the lake, our Shelduck followed them slowly swimming and somehow appeared "tame", much like the semi-wild birds you can see in Switzerland. The area at the other end of the lake looks very promising for waders but only few were present: Little Ringed Plover (5), Spotted Redshank (1), Greenshank (1), Common Sandpiper (1 or 2). A big flock of Pallid Swifts (>30) hunts above the lake. I quickly checked for Plain Swift but found none.

Lanzarote

Salines at Janubio
Big area of salines. We just had a 15 min stop in the southern area. A quick scanning produced Black-winged Stilt (2), Turnstone (4), Common Sandpiper (1), Redshank (1) and Greenshank (1).

Teguise steppes
Morning birding in the steppes quickkly produced a pair of Stone Curlews, a distant displaying Houbara and finally our first close Houbara. We watched this bird for more than half an hour, it was joined by two more, who flew off later giving superb views. At 9 45 unfortunately, it was time to hit the road again.

Salines at Los Cocoteros
A small but very rewarding site. You can actually drive into the salines and use your car as a hide to get very close views of waders (although you can cover only four small pools). Only small numbers of wintering waders were present: Ringed Plover (10-15), Kentish Plover (2, including a very pretty male), Turnstone (15-20), Dunlin (15-20), Curlew Sandpiper (3), Common Sandpiper (1), Redshank (10-15), Greenshank (1 or 2), Black-Tailed Godwit (1) all seen in about 45 minutes.

Trip List

a total of 60 species including 8 "lifer"

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)

Ruddy Shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea)

Gadwall (Anas strepera)

Teal (Anas crecca)

Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus)

Buzzard (Buteo buteo insularum)

Kestrel (Falco tinunculus canariensis and dacotiae)

Barbary Partridge (Alectoris barbara)

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)

Coot (Fulica atra)

Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis undulata fuerteventurae)

Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)

Stone Curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus)

Cream-coloured Coursor (Cursorius cursor)

Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius)

Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)

Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus)

Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)

Dunlin (Calidris alpina)

Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea)

Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)

Redshank (Tringa totanus)

Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus)

Greenshank (Tringa nebularia)

Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa)

Black-headed Gull (Larus rigibundus)

Yellow-legged Gull (Larus cachinnans atlantis)

Black-bellied Sandgrouse (Pterocles orientalis)

Rock dove (Columba livia)

Bolles Laurel Pigeon (Columba bollii)

Laurel Pigeon (Columba junoniae)

Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)

Long-Eared Owl (Asio otus)

Pallid Swift (Apus pallidus)

Hophoe (Upupa epops)

Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus)

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)

Lesser Short-toed Lark (Calandrella rufescens)

Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

Berthelot’s Pipit (Anthus bethelotii)

Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)

Robin (Erithacus rubecula)

Canary Islands Chat (Saxicola dacotiae)

Blackbird (Turdus merula)

Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)

Sardinian Warbler (Sylvia melanocephala)

Spectacled Warbler (Sylvia conspicillata)

Canary Islands Chiffchaff (Phylloscopos (collybita) canariensis)

Tenerife Goldcrest (Regulus (regulus) teneriffae)

Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus teneriffae and degener)

Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis koenigi)

Raven (Corvus corax)

Spanish Sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis)

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs tintillon)

Blue Chaffinch (Fringilla teydea)

Linnet (Carduelis cannabina)

Canary (Serinus canaria)

Trumpeter Finch (Bucanetes githagineus)

Corn Bunting (Miliaria calandra)

Some birds of the Canary Islands

Berthelot's Pipit (Cañadas del Teide)

Blue Chaffinch (El Portillo Visitor Center)

Blue Chaffinch (somewhere between Aguamansa and El Portillo)

Canary Island Chiffchaff (Visitor Center at El Portillo)

Tenerife Blue Tit (Visitor Center at El Portillo)

Laurel Pigeon (El Cedro laurel forest)

Stone Curlews in the Teguise plains

Houbara Bustard (Teguise plains)

Southern Grey Shrike (Betancuria)

Common Sandpiper (Los Cocoteros)

Special Feature (why Houbara Bustards are sometimes hard to find)

(Thanks to Conny for this little composition)

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