Itinerary
6-7-2008
We arrived at Lanzarote airport in the evening, and spent the rest of the day at the hotel.
7-7-2008
We hired a car at the hotel, which cost 25 euros for the whole day. We decided to visit the northern part of the island. Around Mirador del Rio, on top of Famara Cliffs, we had good views of 2 dark phase Eleonora's Falcons, but no luck with the Barbary Falcons, which I had seen at the same spot 2 years ago.
The evening was spent at a very nice and quiet beach 2 km south of Orzola. On the way to the hotel, we stopped aprox. 5 km to the north of Jameos de Agua, so that I could do some seawatching from the roadside, looking towards MotaÒa Clara islet. It was not a vantage point, but just a place with good visibility of the sea. In one hour I had an impressive 2,500 Cory's Shearwaters passing north, a Manx Shearwater - a scarce breeder in the nearby offshore islands - and, best of all, 4 Bulwer's Petrels, heading north quite close to the shore. As far as I knew, they were supposed to be nearly impossible to see from shore, so I was happy with the observation, but, with 7 more birds the following day, it seems as if they can be nearly guaranteed from shore in that part of the island in July.
8-7-2008
We hired the same car as yesterday, and decided to visit Famara beach, in the northwest of the island. On the way, we stopped at the plains left of the road , aprox. 3 km before Famara. A nice Houbara Bustard was seen, along with good numbers of Lesser Short-toed Larks, Berthelot's Pipits and Southern grey shrikes
We spent the evening in the same beach as yesterday. Two Spoonbills were seen resting on some rocks. Afterwards I spent another hour of seawatching at the spot located to the North of Jameos del Agua. Huge numbers of Cory's heading back to the islets were seen, as well as seven Bulwer's Petrels.
9-7-2008
We met Juan Sagardia and Miguel Rouco at the airport and spent some time before the departure of the ferry looking for the breeding Laughing Doves in gardens at Guatiza and Mala, without luck.
The direct ferry from Lanzarote to Tenerife leaves from the Arrecife harbour, twice a week (thereís also one that stops first at las Palmas). It takes 9 hours to reach Tenerife, and most of the time the ferry crosses extreme offshore waters. Nearly all the White -faced Storm-petrels were seen 3 hours before reaching Tenerife, in an area with good numbers of Bulwer's Petrels and Cory's Shearwaters. White-faced Storm-petrels are extremely rare breeders in the Canary Islands, with just a few pairs nesting at a couple of inaccessible islets.
Before knowing about this ferry, it was nearly impossible to connect with this species in the islands, unless one had the permits to go to the islets where the few pairs breed. For that reason, it was big news when Hugues Dufourny's report appeared on the internet in 2004, saying he had seen quite a few birds in the long journey ferry sailing from Fuerteventura to Gran Canaria in July. Many thousand pairs breed in the Selvagens Islands, and the ferry from Lanzarote to Tenerife makes the northernmost route in the Canary Islands, so its probable that many of the storm-petrels seen here are not local breeders but birds from the Selvagens populations
Clemente A. Usategui decided to catch the ferry from Lanzarote to Tenerife last July, and it was a great success, as he saw seven White-faced Storm-petrels. With seven birds too this time, it seems clear that this ferry is the cheapest option to guarantee the species in the WP, as trips to the Cape Verde and Selvagens are quite expensive.
As for the sightings, we spent the first 2 hours of the trip on the right side of the boat, on the first deck, as the visibility from the top deck was limited. After the 2 hours, in which we saw two Loggerhead Turtles, many Coryís Shearwaters and Flying Fishes, we moved to the left side of the boat, as the light on that side was now better. We saw the first White-faced Storm-petrel at 3.00pm. The second one was seen approximately one hour after the first sighting, at 4.00pm. In between, very brief views of a dark, medium sized storm-petrel, either Madeiran or Wilson's, and good numbers of Cory's and Bulwerís Petrels were seen, as well as two groups of Common Terns. After this there was a period during which we saw very little, until aprox. at 17.30, when we arrived at an area which was clearly the best one for seabirds of the whole journey, with 5 White-faced Storm-petrels, 1 Macaronesian (Little) Shearwater and 15 Bulwer's Petrels. The waves were quite big and it was very difficult to follow the birds for long periods, so most of the sightings of the White-faced Storm-petrels were very brief. After that extremely productive area only good numbers of Corys's Shearwaters were seen, especially as we approached Tenerife harbour, where we arrived at 8 pm. The final totals of the trip were 76 Bulwer's Petrels, 7 White faced Storm Petrels and a single Macaronesian (Little) Shearwater
We took a taxi from the ferry terminal to the Tenerife Norte airport, only 10 mins away, where we rented a car for the next day and a half. Afterwards, we headed west on the main North Highway until we reached Puerto de la Cruz, where we spent the night at a hotel, costing 25 euros per person
10-7-2008
Today's plan was to see all Tenerife specialities in one day, so we woke up early and moved west, stopping first at Barranco de Ruiz, which is just 15 minutes from Puerto de la cruz. This is probably the easiest place for Laurel Pigeon in the island.
There's a clear signpost with the name Barranco de Ruiz on the right side of the main north road, and a small parking lot with a restaurant on the left side. We parked the car there and started looking towards the valley. After 5 minutes, we saw the first two Laurel Pigeons, which came flying from the valley and landed on the small trees located just on the top of a small cliff face with Feral Pigeons nesting on it, to the left of the viewpoint. In the next half an hour, we had 10 more sightings of Laurel Pigeon, including some very good ones of perched birds feeding. Also in the area heineken Blackcap, Grey Wagtail, Sardinian Warbler, Canary Islands Chiffchaff and Atlantic Canary.
Our next destination was Monte del Agua, near Erjos, aprox. 1 hour from Barranco de Ruiz. We arrived at Erjos and turned right onto a rough track at the end of the village, which starts very close to a large pine tree . The track was closed for cars as some repairs were being made. No problem; we decided to walk until the viewpoint. The path crosses a very nice laurel forest and is very easy-going. We saw the endemic tintillon subspecies of Chaffinch, several Canary Islands Blue Tits (teneriffae), teneriffae Goldcrests, superbus (Tenerife) Robins, Blackbirds and 2 unidentified pigeons seen too briefly.
It took us exactly one hour, including all the stops watching the different species, to reach the spot. There's a rock with a rain gauge on top of it in the main track, and from there take the trail down to the viewpoint. We spent half an hour there, and we had no less than 18 sightings of Bolle's Pigeon.
We returned to the car and headed south, towards Los Cristianos, which took us about 1.5 hours.
We went straight to the beach of los Tarajales where the Tricoloured Heron had been seen a week before. The tide was good (low), but unfortunately the heron wasn't there! No big deal, as I had seen the species many times in the past in America, though it would obviously have been a nice WP tick.
One of my main objectives of the trip to the Canaries was to get good views and gain experience with both Bulwer's Petrel and Macaronesian (Little) Shearwater. Great views of many Bulwer's so far, but with only one distant Little, I decided it would be a good idea to catch the ferry to la Gomera, where Macaronesian Shearwaters are commonly seen. We took the14:00 Naviera Armas ferry; Fred Olsen's ferry is too fast for seeing anything, and is responsible for the killing of many whales.
The crossing was not too productive, with high winds and bad light. The only interesting species noted were several pods of Short-finned Pilot Whales and many Cory's Shearwaters. We had only one hour at la Gomera before going back on the ferry so we had lunch at a nearby bar and spent a few minutes watching the sea from the seawall, though only Cory's were seen
The crossing back to Tenerife was much better, with two Cuvier's Beaked Whales seen very close to the boat, as well as 5 Bulwer's Petrels, though again no Macaronesian (Little) Shearwaters. It looks like late autumn and winter are the best times to look for the species.
We were back at the harbour at 18:00, so decided to head straight to las Lajas picnic area for the Blue Chaffinch. It took us about one hour to reach the place, which is 11 km from the petrol station at Vilaflor.
Once there, the best way of having good views of the species is to park the car at the parking lot and continue walking towards the soccer field. Just before it, on your left there is a small building with a red roof, which has a big pine tree very close to it, with a water fountain below it. All the birds of the area come to this spot to drink, so you will have great views just by standing near the small building.
In the following hour, we had great views of many Blue Chaffinches, Atlantic Canaries, Great Spotted Woodpeckers (canariensis), Turtle Doves, etcÖHundreds of Plain Swifts were flying above, and we also saw an insularis Common Buzzard passing by.
So, after seeing all Tenerife specialities in one day, we headed back to los Cristianos, where we spent the night in a hostal.
11-7-2008
We woke up early and went straight to playa de los Tarajales, in front of Hotel Arona and just south of Los Cristianos main beach. This was the place where the Tricoloured Heron was being seen at low tide, though, as yesterday, we couldnít locate the bird, and, after 3 hours there, we had to start heading back towards Los Rodeos airport, about 1.5 hours from there, to catch the plane to Lanzarote.
The company Binter Canarias offers cheap flights between islands, and I think it's a good choice to take one of them if you want to go from Tenerife to Lanzarote. The ferry back sails at night, so you donít have any opportunities to do birding, it takes 8 hours instead of 1 and the price is nearly the same.
The flight was on time and we arrived in Lanzarote at 3pm.
The rest of the day was spent in the hotel, so no more birds were seen.
12-7-2008
This was our last day on the island, so we visited Papagayo beaches, in the south. There were many tourists, though the beach itself was beautiful. We did some snorkelling too, with the main highlight being the number of Ornate Wrasses (Thalassoma pavo) seen. We left the area late in the evening and arrived at the hotel just in time for dinner
13-7-2008
Our plane back home to Asturias left very early in the mourning, so we didnít have time to do anything but going to the airport. It was the end of a very relaxed holiday, though very productive in birding terms
Target Species seen
Bulwer's Petrel (Bulweria bulwerii)
A grand total of 92 birds seen. The species seemed much commoner than expected having read many reports, and July may be the best month for seeing good numbers. The sightings were the following:
- 4 seen in one hour of seawatching from the road, 5 km north of Jameos del Agua, looking towards MontaÒaClara islet, in the evening of the 7th of July
- 7 seen in one hour at the same spot in the evening of the 8th of July
- 76 birds seen in the Lanzarote-Tenerife ferry on the 9th of July
- 5 in the La gomera-Los Cristianos ferry on the 10th of July
White-faced Storm Petrel (Pelagodroma marina)
One of the highlights of the trip. Seven birds of this supposed to be very difficult species were seen in the Lanzarote-Tenerife ferry on the 9th of July. This ferry is probably the best option for connecting with the species in the Canary Islands.
Macaronesian (Little) Shearwater (Puffinus baroli)
I expected to have several sightings of the species; therefore, I was surprised to see just one bird, on the Lanzarote-Tenerife ferry, the 9th of July. Many birders see the species in the Los Cristianos-La Gomera ferry, but we had no luck. It seems that July is one of the worst months to look for the species, and a visit in autumn-winter is necessary for seeing more birds.
Bolle's Pigeon (Columba bollii)
18 sightings in half an hour at Monte del Agua on the 10th of July.
Laurel Pigeon (Columba junoniae)
The most difficult of the two endemic pigeons in Tenerife was easily seen at Barranco del Ruiz in the early morning of the 10th of July, with 11 sightings in half an hour, including several perched birds. No birds seen at Monte del Agua
Tenerife Goldcrest (Regulus teneriffae)
Seen at Monte del Agua on the 10th of July
Canary Islands Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus canariensis)
Common in Tenerife, with birds seen at Monte del Agua and Barranco del Ruiz
on the 10th of July
Canary Islands Blue Tit (Parus teneriffae teneriffae)
Common in Tenerife, seen at Monte del Agua and Las Lajas on the 10th of July
Blue Chaffinch (Fringilla teydea teydea)
Easily seen at Las Lajas picnic area, with many birds coming to drink there.
Canary (Serinus canaria)
Common in Tenerife, seen at Barranco de Ruiz, Monte del Agua and Las Lajas on the 10th of July
Other interesting species seen
Eleonora's Falcon (Falco eleonorae): 2 dark phase birds seen at Mirador del RÌo, located on Famara Cliffs, on the northern part of Lanzarote.
Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo insularum): 1 bird flying over las Lajas
Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus canariensis): Seen at Monte del Agua
Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis undulata fuertaventurae): 1 bird seen on the plains to the South East of Famara town
Plain Swift (Apus unicolor): common in Tenerife and Lanzarote
Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major canariensis): Very common at las Lajas
Lesser Short-toed Lark (Calandrella rufescens polatzeki): several groups on the plains to the South East of Famara
Berthelot's Pipit (Anthus berthelotii berthelotii): Common
Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea canariensis): Seen at Barranco de Ruiz
Robin (Erithacus rubecula superbus): Common, seen at Monte del Agua and Barranco del Ruiz
Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla heineken): Seen at Monte del Agua
Blackbird (Turdus merula cabrerae): Seen at Barranco de Ruiz and Monte del Agua
Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs tintillon): Several seen at Monte del Agua