Birding Lanzarote

The blog has been quiet of late. That’s because Sue and I took ourselves off to the Canary Islands for a two week break from the wintry weather of the UK. 

There are quite a number of photos from the past two weeks, enough to compile a couple of posts while finding time to return to local birds after catching up with family, friends, post and email. 

Lanzarote is an inexpensive destination and just a four hour flight from Manchester. Sharing the same time zones with the UK means that following an early flight we can be relaxing in the January sunshine soon after lunch while planning our explorations for the following days. While Lanzarote may not be the most exciting birding destination in the world its closeness to Africa, the desert-like climate and minimal rainfall means that a number of its bird species are quite specialised. 

We walked and took a bus during the early and last days of the holiday and hired a car to explore further afield in the middle period. On only the second day we found a pair of Trumpeter Finches along a coastal walk, the birds feeding amongst patches of sparse ground cover dotted amongst the mainly rocky cost between Costa Calero, Peurto del Carmen and Playa Quemada. The name Trumpeter Finch might suggest a rather gregarious species with a loud and strident call, but my own experience in the Canary Islands is that the species is rather shy. It also has a quiet, slightly tinny call which can be easily overlooked, somewhat like the calls of our own UK Bullfinch. 

Trumpeter Finch

Heading away from the hotel and the suburbia of Costa Calero we left behind a number of Desert Grey Shrikes, the birds using abandoned building plots and even well-established gardens from which to proclaim their territories. The male shrikes have a very loud, far-carrying but monotonous “song” which they recite from very obvious vantage points, including TV aerials, all of which makes it easy to work out the limits and size of each territory. 

Desert Grey Shrike

I watched a pair of shrikes feed young out of the nest until they were disturbed from parental duties by a rather large, feral marauding cat. It was quite amazing to watch the two birds mercilessly chase off the cat with a combination of flying directly at the animal plus their constant and very loud shrieking protests. One of the shrikes used the corner post of a tennis court fence from which to voice a protest at the cat. Maybe it helped when I lobbed a large piece of volcanic rock at the cat too? 

Desert Grey Shrike

Desert Grey Shrike

It seemed to be Spring in Lanzarote as evidenced by the amount of flowers blooming through the volcanic landscape and then later in the week by finding more evidence of breeding in both Desert Grey Shrike and Stone Curlew. Wherever we saw Berthelot’s Pipits they appeared in pairs but not in family groups and the few Spectacled Warblers noted were in song. 

Spring flowers, Lanzarote

Berthelot's Pipit

 Spectacled Warbler

The headland towards Playa Quemada has a couple of stone circles which aren’t quite Stonehenge but where folk are at least allowed to add their own contribution. It’s in spots like this where someone might glimpse the local lizards of the genus Gallotia, the wall lizards of the Canary Islands, a group that has been evolving there ever since the first Canary islands emerged from the sea over 20 million years ago. Their colouration certainly helps them to merge into the volcanic landscape. 

Lanzarote lizard

Stone circle, Playa Quemada, Lanzarote

Playa Quemada has a couple of restaurants, a dozen or two houses and not much else apart from a Common Sandpiper and the inevitable Yellow-legged Gulls which hang about waiting for a meal. After a plate of tapas it’s time to head back for another invigorating walk in the bright sunshine. 

Common Sandpiper

Yellow-legged Gull

Playa Quemada, Lanzarote

Playa Quemada, Lanzarote

There's more soon from Another Bird Blog. Andy tells me there are loads of birds at the feeding station and while I've been away he's caught both Siskins and Lesser Redpolls - stay tuned.

Linking today to Run-a-Roundranch and Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

North To Nati

There was birding today but things were so quiet that I'd struggle to fill a post. So instead here’s more from our two week holiday in Menorca of 2nd-16th May. 

A trip north and west is an annual event, a birding morning to see a number of specialised species which inhabit the coastal area of Punta Nati three or four miles out from the second city Ciutadella. There’s perhaps not much to interest the average Joe at Punta Nati - a lighthouse, a number of partly restored prehistoric monuments within a patchwork of dry stone-wall enclosed fields, and birds.

Punta Nati - Menorca

For birders this part of the island guarantees Short-toed Lark, Blue Rock Thrush, Thekla Lark, Tawny Pipit and Stone Curlew. Off shore there may be Cory’s Shearwaters, Audouin’s Gulls, Yellow-legged Gulls, European Shags and if the conditions are right, swifts of the Pallid, Alpine and Common persuasion. 

European Shag

 Alpine Swift

Although our morning here was dry and sunny the Tramuntana blew quite strongly to make the birds skittish and less likely to pose on the exposed walls, so apologies for less than ideal pictures. It all makes for good reasons to return to Menorca in 2015.

Blue Rock Thrush

Thekla Lark

Short-toed Lark 

Tawny Pipit

The common lizard in Menorca is the Italian Wall or Ruin Lizard - Podarcis siculus

Italian Wall Lizard - Podarcis siculus

On the way south but before hitting the outskirts of Ciutadella there’s a roadside stop at the Cattle Egret colony.

Cattle Egret

Cattle Egret

It’s easy to wax lyrical about beautiful Ciutadella, an historic town that has held up well to the pressure of tourism in the twentieth century. It was originally named by the Carthaginians, who called it Jamma, and was the original capital of Menorca until the British came along and chnged it to Mahon in the eighteenth century. To many Menorcans Ciutadella still remains the capital of Menorca and there is intense rivalry between the two cities.

A little shopping, exploration and coffe stops in Ciutadella is a relatively good exchange for a morning’s birding at Punta Nati.

Ciutadella

Street Artist - Ciutadella

Ciutadella

The Harbour - Ciutadella - Menorca 

At least a couple of Kestrel pairs nest in the centre of the city, one pair next to the clock tower of the Cathedral Basilica. The fine old buildings are home to many pairs of Common Swift, the harbour a place to see Yellow-legged Gulls and sometimes Audouin's Gull. So even amongst the shopping and sightseeing there's always a spot of birding.   

Kestrel

Menorca Cathedral - Ciutadella

 Yellow-legged Gull

Log in soon for more birding and photography from Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Anni's Birding Blog and Eileen's Saturday Blog.

Where Are You?

Would you believe it? We are in Menorca again. 

Here are a few pictures of this wonderful Mediterranean island for blog readers to enjoy with minimal commentary from your's truly.

The endangered Egyptian Vulture is a regular sight throughout the island, especially soaring over the rocky gorges that fall down to the coast. 

Egyptian Vulture

Menorcan Gorge

Tawny Pipit

Es Grau- Menorca

There are always lots of Yellow-legged Gulls and Audouin's Gulls at the pretty fishing village of Es Grau. 

 Yellow-legged Gull

For such an apparently conspicuous bird the Hoopoes is surprisingly elusive, more often heard than actually seen.

Not so the Bee Eater with a few breeding colonies on the island plus a strong Spring movement as they head to Europe.

Bee Eater

Wne driving and walking it's best to keep an eye open for the island tortoises as well as the birds.

 Heerman's Tortoise

There's more from Another Bird Blog in Menorca soon.

A Colourful Day

For today’s post there are more pictures from our recent holiday to Lanzarote. There lots of them so "click the pics" for a continuous slide show; and I hope everyone likes egrets!

One of the easiest spots to see the endemic Berthelot’s Pipit is strangely enough one that is overrun with tourists, just off the road from Yaiza at the Islote de Hilario visitor centre for camel rides en route to Timanfaya. 

Traditionally, the farmers of Lanzarote used camels to help cultivate the dry, difficult land. They were brought from the nearby African mainland. Today the camels have been replaced in farming, but a tradition of caring for them survives. The remaining camels earn their living by carrying visitors over the rough terrain of the Timanfaya National Park. At the camel station there is a small but very interesting museum, showing how farmers used to work with the camels. Displays of harness and farming equipment, and old photographs of the work, bear witness to the resilience of both man and beast in the harsh landscape. 

I met up with national park worker who takes a break in the car park where he shares his lunch of Lanzarote cheese with a regular group of 10/12 Berthelot’s Pipit’s. Continually active and dashing around constantly the tiny pipits are not easy to photograph, and because of light reflections from the volcanic rock, it’s best to set the camera to underexpose. Wander not too far away and there might be a Cattle Egret or two stalking though the dry landscape. 

Berthelot's Pipit

Berthelot's Pipit

 

Camels at Islote de Hilario, Lanzarote

Camel rides at Islote de Hilario, Lanzarote

Cattle Egret

Cattle Egret

On this particular day we stopped off at the old port of Puerto del Carmen hoping to see a few birds in the marina. There were a couple of Little Egrets, several Turnstones, 2 Common Sandpipers and lots of Yellow-legged Gulls hanging around the tied up fishing boats,all hoping to snatch a meal from anything the fishermen had overlooked. It was clear that the birds involved had a regular beat, inspecting each fishing boat in turn, the egrets in particular paying special attention to the boxes and containers that had recently held fish. It's interesting that the local Turnstones have learnt to forsake the rocky shore to turn over instead the bric-a-brac on decks of fishing boats.

The colourful old boats made for some brightly hued backdrops. 

Little Egret

Little Egret

Little Egret

Little Egret

Little Egret

Little Egret

Little Egret

Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote

Little Egret

Common Sandpiper

Turnstone

Turnstone

Turnstone

Common Sandpiper

 Yellow-legged Gull

Log into Another Bird Blog soon for more news, views and pictures. I'm still working through Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin but a review will appear on here very soon.

Linking today to Anni's Birding Blog ,  Eileen's Saturday Critters and Camera Critters .