Another budget holiday: this time an attempt to see as many Canary Island and Macronesian endemics as possible, plus a few other key targets, on the island of Tenerife. To make life more interesting we also sought out endemic sub-species. We chose late dates for our visit because these endemics are present all year round and this timing maximised our chances of finding scarce seabirds on the Tenerife to La Gomera ferry. The downside was that the overall number of species present was reduced outside of the migration season. Although we only went for 7 days we did consider a one-way inter-island flight to Fuerteventura for Houbara Bustard and Fuerteventura Chat, with the additional enticement of a 9 hour return ferry journey and the possibility of White-faced Petrel. This would have been perfectly feasible as we saw all the endemic and near-endemic species within the first two days but we eventually decided to leave Fuerteventura for another day.
Travel Arrangements
On this occasion there were only two participants, John Rayner (travelling from Manchester) and Doug Smith (travelling from Newcastle). We used Jet2.com as they flew from our respective home town airports and were cheap. We reduced costs further by declining all the usual add-ons; Jet2 insurance, pre-booked seats, in-flight meals, in-flight drinks, duty free, headphone hire, film hire, scratch cards etc (is there nothing they won’t sell?) and took hand luggage only (a reasonable 10 kilos). This brought the flight cost from Manchester down to £112.
A Ford Fiesta was booked through Carhire3000 with Goldcar for £84. Accommodation was a large, self catering apartment in the Marino Hotel Tenerife on the Costa del Silencio, excellent value at £100.
We went as foot passengers (40 Euros return) on the Los Cristanos to La Gomera ferry travelling with the slower Naviera Armas (a crossing of about 80 minutes) rather than the Fred Olsen Express.
Maps, Guides and Recommended Trip Reports
The map we used, the 1:50 000 Tenerife, Freytag & Berndt, has some fine detail and is probably the best available, but was unwieldy to use in the car as it is massive and printed on both sides.
We took ‘A Birdwatchers’ Guide to the Canary Islands’ (Tony Clarke & Dave Collins) and ‘Where to watch Birds in Tenerife’ (Eduardo Garcia del Rey). But these guides were published 12 -15 years ago and are now a little dated. We found many sites changed beyond recognition, for example, all usual access routes to Punta de la Rasca lighthouse are now behind locked gates or blocked off with new and massive tented banana plantations and El Fraile reservoir, accessible as recently as January 2011, is now fenced off. Such is the rate of change.
These Internet reports are from the last 3 years and give useful information on species seen, sites visited and changes to site directions plus the location of the current best site for Laurel Pigeon:
Tenerife and La Gomera – 25th March to 1st April 2008 - Neal Warnock (Surfbird.com)
Tenerife, Canary Islands – 10-13 December 2009 – Nick Littlewood (Travelling Birder.com)
Tenerife and Fuerteventura – 12-19 May 2009 – Stefan Magnusson (Travelling Birder.com)
Tenerife – 11-18 September 2010 – Richard Sutton (Surfbirders.com)
Tenerife – 8-22 August 2008 – Phil Lindley (Surfbirds.com)
Tenerife – Feb 2008 – Richard Bonsor (Surfbirds.com)
Tenerife – 22-29 January 2011 – Gary Westdean (Travelling Birder.com)
4th June.
Late afternoon flights but as DS’s flight was delayed by 3 hours JR managed a bit of birding around the Reina Sofia airport. This quickly produced the first sightings of the abundant and widespread Canary Islands Chiffchaffs and Plain Swifts, the endemic sub-species of Blackbird (ssp. cabrarae, not much different to ours) and a singles of Barbary Partridge and Turtle Dove.
5th June.
An early start was called for as we headed to the north of the island to a site not found in the books, but gleaned from internet trip reports (see above). Mirador la Grimona is approximately 5 kilometres west of Puerto de la Cruz and is just west of a series of tunnels on the TF5. Within seconds of getting out of the car a Laurel Pigeon flew, and then landed, halfway up the mountain slope opposite affording excellent scoped views. There were 2 -3 birds present and they put on a bit of a show over the next half hour. Our first of many Canaries, the extremely bright and aptly named sub-species of Robin (ssp. superbus) and a sub-species of Cory’s Shearwater (ssp. borealis) were also in the area.
Buoyed by this early success we headed back to the mountain village of Erjos where we quickly found the endemic sub-species of Grey Wagtail (ssp. canariensis), but it took some effort to find the correct track to the Bolle’s Pigeon site. Problems arose mainly from the disappearance of the ‘Casa Forestal’ sign, which is mentioned in both guides and has been used as a prominent landmark in the past. We chose to walk through the pine forest rather than drive and thus had close views of Canary Island Kinglet, African Blue Tit and the sub-species of Chaffinch (ssp. tintillon, a much drabber bird than those in Britain). We chose to walk further than the famous rock with the green rain gauge (N.B. the gauge cannot be seen from ground level) and on to the next bare cliff face. This, surrounded as it is by pristine laurel forest is ideal habitat for Bolle’s Pigeon and again we quickly had both flight and scoped perched views. It is worth noting that on two subsequent days as we passed Erjos it was shrouded in thick cloud, so on this occasion we were lucky with the weather.
Above: Laurel Pigeon site
Above: rain gauge clock with cliffs in background
Above: male Island Canary
6th June.
Another early start as we drove to the interior of the island before crowds of tourists got there. Barbary Partridges were perched up roadside and another pair walked across the road with a chick. The first of dozens of Berthelot’s Pipits were noted before we arrived at Las Lajas picnic area. Here were Blue Chaffinches, Canaries, Canary Islands Kinglets and the endemic sub-species of Great-spotted Woodpecker (ssp. canariensis), the latter sporting quite dusky underparts. African Blue Tits were nesting under the eaves of a stone building and with their black and white head pattern, blue mantle and lack of wing bars they looked very different to Eurasian Blue Tit. Insects were also flying with the golden-honey coloured female Canary Blue catching the eye and Canary Lizards warmed up in the early sun.
Above: Barbary Partridge
Above: La Lajas picnic site
Above: male Blue Chaffinch
Above: female Blue Chaffinch
Above: African Blue Tit
Above: female Canary Blue
Above: Canary Lizard
In the afternoon we took the 14.00 ferry from Los Cristianos to the nearby island of La Gomera. As we had already seen both pigeons well we did not need to take the car to reach the pigeon strongholds on La Gomera and so travelled as foot passengers. In Los Cristianos harbour we saw our only Common Tern of the week. The 80 minute outbound sea watch produced 35 Cory’s Shearwaters and 1 Bulwer’s Petrel but the 17.00 return was better, as predicted, with 156 Cory’s Shearwaters and a minimum of 6 Bulwer’s Petrels. Sadly Little Shearwater proved more difficult and was our only bad miss of the trip. On La Gomera itself a flock of Plain Swifts held a single House Martin.