Birding In The Sun

Sue and I are in Lanzarote, Spain. Until we return home here are more photos of Lanzarote together with some of the birds met along the way. 

At any time of year near perfect weather is more or less guaranteed in the Canary Islands. It gets windy sometimes and storms aren’t totally unknown, but at the moment it’s sun every day and temperatures hovering between 21- 23C. Whenever we go the attire is nearly always shorts and a tee shirt with a light jacket as backup for the cool of morning or evening. 

All over the island of Lanzarote is the influence of the visionary artist, architect and environmentalist César Manrique who saved Lanzarote from the effects of rampant tourist development. His unusual creations emphasise the unique landscapes and geology of the island and are a major attraction to travellers. 

 

Fondación César Manrique - Near Tahiche, Lanzarote. 

Agave attenuata - Lanzarote

Lanzarote is rain-free for 95% of the year producing a near desert like environment in many places. It’s a landscape attractive to three speciality birds of the island, Houbara Bustard, Cream-coloured Courser and Stone Curlew but none of them are easy to find in the type of terrain they inhabit.

Houbara Bustard

Stone Curlew 

Beware! - Bustards about

Watermelon - Lanzarote

Berthelot’s Pipits are fairly common if sometimes difficult to pick out against the often grey, volcanic landscape. They are known to run around the feet of the tourists where there’s often a morsel or two of food, preferably the local queso tierno (tender cheese). Just occasionally I have seen Berthelot’s Pipits in the grounds of the hotel, once whilst lazing on a sunbed as the pipit walked along a nearby path. They also occur in nearby residential areas in amongst unfinished roads or housing developments, as do Desert Grey Shrikes, Linnets, Spanish Sparrows and Collared Doves.

Berthelot's Pipit

A favourite drive is to head south along the coast to the village of El Golfo where we stop for a coffee or a snack followed by a walk along the headland where Yellow-legged Gulls abound but Lesser Black-backed Gulls are more common at migration time. There’s usually a Little Egret to be found amongst the rocks, together with small numbers of Common Sandpiper, Turnstone or Whimbrel.

El Golfo - Lanzarote

Yellow-legged Gull

Little Egret

Whimbrel

Turnstone

Thank you everyone for continuing to visit Another Bird Blog in my absence. If you leave a comment I promise to get back to you as soon as possible via the hotel WiFi. Failing that I will return your message as soon as possible when back in England.

Rainy Day Birding

Today is cloudy, rainy and breezy and I’m indoors. 

Yesterday there was time for a trip up to the feeding station armed with a bucket of nyjer seed and a bag of Bamford’s finest. On the 30 minutes drive up to Oakenclough I noted 5 roadside Kestrels at well scattered locations so figured that the moderately mild winter augured well for Kestrels and others in the coming weeks. 

 It was quite blowy with some action around the feeders but nothing out of the ordinary with good numbers of Chaffinch and Goldfinch, a couple of Lesser Redpolls, a Grey Wagtail and a pair of Mistle Thrush. 

Mistle Thrush

Kestrel

To fill today’s post there are a few leftovers from the recent holiday to Lanzarote. 

We like to spend a day in the old part of Puerto del Carmen, a town which has a busy working port and harbour, more than enough coffee stops, plus a spot of shopping for the grandkids’ presents. 

Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote

Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote

Lanzarote dolls

The Turnstones here appeared to be juveniles and will probably spend the summer in the locality as there is so much food to be found by hanging about the fishing boats. 

Turnstone

Turnstone

The Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres is one of two species of turnstone in the genus Arenaria. It is a highly migratory bird, breeding in northern parts of Eurasia and North America and flying south to winter on coastlines almost worldwide. It is the only species of turnstone in much of its range and is often known simply as “Turnstone”. 

In the Americas, Turnstones winter on coastlines from Washington and Massachusetts southwards to the southern tip of South America. In Europe it winters in western regions from Iceland, Norway and Denmark southwards. In Africa, it is common all the way down to South Africa with good numbers on many offshore islands, including here in the Canaries. 

In Asia, it is widespread in the south with birds wintering as far north as southern China and Japan. It occurs south to Tasmania and New Zealand and is present on many Pacific islands. Yes, the Turnstone is some traveller, one that makes us appreciate the magic of bird migration. 

Turnstone

There’s a Little Egret here with a trick or two. The egret knew that if it waited around long enough someone would come along the jetty above with a handful of bread to feed the hordes of grey mullet in the clear shallow waters below. As the fish came steaming in for a free and easy meal, so did the egret. 

Little Egret

Little Egret

Let’s finish on a guy with attitude and hope the weather improves soon for Another Bird Blog 

Spanish Sparrow

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

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.