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Species list |
List of species seen
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Cory’s Shearwater |
This is probably the only seabird of interest that is likely to be seen at this time of the year. However, I was still surprised by the numbers, with birds past the hotel constantly early morning and late afternoon |
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Little Egret |
2 birds on the rocky shoreline in front of the hotel on the 10th (one morning, one late afternoon), and 2 in the water tanks on the approach to Amarilla Golf Course |
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Sparrowhawk |
Female over the rock
lookout at the laurel forest |
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Buzzard |
Around 10 birds over the
laurel forest. At one time, 3 birds were circling together over the higher
peaks |
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Kestrel |
Quite common - ~10 on both the 9th and 11th |
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Barbary Falcon |
A pair were seen at a nest
site on the cliffs above Caleta Anden, to the West of Buenavista del Norte. The
site was very easily found – through the third of the three tunnels leading to
Punta de Teno, and park 100m along and look back. The nest site was not so
obvious, but both birds appeared together after about half an hour and landed
in the nesting chamber |
|
Barbary Partidge |
This is probably not too
uncommon a bird on the island, but seems to be hard to catch up with. I was
lucky that the pair I saw appeared in front of the car just after I had parked
on the track to Punta de la Rasca |
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Ringed Plover |
3 birds on the exposed
rocks in front of the hotel |
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Whimbrel |
1 on the rocky shoreline
around the corner from the hotel |
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Turnstone |
1 on rocks in front of the
hotel |
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Yellow-legged Gull |
Common on the coast |
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Bolle’s Pigeon |
After waiting for about
half an hour on the large rock overlooking the laurel forests, 3 birds in a
group whistled past, and landed somewhere in the valley below. The tail pattern
is quite marked, and very different from that of the Laurel Pigeons seen later.
A good number of pigeons were seen briefly, or clattered out of the trees, but
only one further bird could be identified as Bolle’s |
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Laurel Pigeon |
The numbers seem were quite
a surprise, since reports I had seen seemed to indicate that these birds were
in vastly lower numbers on the island than Bolle’s, and the site I visited had
few reports. However, the lookout that I frequented for some time 0.8km from
the large rock had at least 3 birds which could be identified, with one or two
others that may have been Laurel, due to the impression of a darker bird. One
was even kind enough to sit in the semi-open for some time |
|
Turtle Dove |
These had been heard
calling for some time in the conifers around the Las Lajas picnic site before
showing themselves. A pair of birds were then found strutting around on the
ground, feeding amongst some of the picnic tables. What was probably the same
pair was found on the ground again a little later |
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Collared Dove |
Very common around the
resorts |
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Monk Parakeet |
These very noisy, albeit introduced, birds were seen and heard frequently around Playa de las Americas. Most guaranteed time seemed to be just after 8 in the morning, presumably when they were coming in from roost. In total, about 17 were seen on the 10th, and 3 on the 9th |
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Hoopoe |
A single bird flew across
in front of me and landed on the ground on the track to Punta de la Rasca |
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Great Spotted Woodpecker |
These were very easy to see at the Las Lajas picnic site. As soon as I left the car, birds could be heard calling in the area, and the first one was actually in the tree directly above the car, chipping away at a pine cone. During the couple of hours I spent at the site, woodpeckers were more or less constantly heard, usually calling, but also frequently hammering on favoured tree stumps. They were also flying to and fro constantly. One of the dripping taps was a very good spot to get close, since the birds were not nearly as timid as I had been led to believe. When see well, the most obvious difference with this island subspecies to British birds is the much darker underbelly |
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(Iberian) Yellow Wagtail |
These were the last birds
seen at the Amarilla golf course. The area had been turning up mainly
Berthelot’s Pipits and Spectacled Warblers (in small numbers), until I heard
the distinctive call while returning to the car. A single bird was quite close,
although jumpy, and when I followed it behind a mound, it flew off with 2 other
birds |
|
Berthelot’s Pipit |
I had expected these to be
a lot more common, or obvious, than they were – in other words, easily seen
around the resorts. However, when the more open wastes away from habitation
were visited, they became a much more common bird. All the birds I saw were
either at the Punta de la Rasca track (~12) or the open scrub alongside the
Amarilla golf course (~8). Once the correct habitat is found, they are very
evident with their constant calling, and very approachable |
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Canary Islands Kinglet |
The only birds I saw were a
few in the laurel forests, and they were usually more easily heard than seen.
My impression of these was that they were very similar to nominate Goldcrests,
having very little white above the eye, with longer bills. It was difficult to
see the wing patterns on the constantly foraging birds |
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Blackbird |
This is supposed to be
another distinct subspecies, but the males I saw didn’t seem to be any
different to the ones we have in Britain. The literature seems to point to size
(barely smaller than nominate), and slight differences with colour of bill in
the female and perhaps shade of the plumage. A couple of males were seen
occasional around Playa de las Americas, but most were seen in the hills of the
North-west (~6 on the 11th) |
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Canary Islands Chiffchaff |
These are very common,
particularly in the laurel forests, where they could be heard calling almost
constantly, but are even in the built up areas. A walk around the resort of
Playa de las Americas usually turned up a few birds, usually when a few bushes
or trees were passed. A pair were even building a nest just in front of the
hotel. A group of 3 to 4 were trying to establish territories more or less at
arms length in the clearing of the laurel forests. While I was waiting and
watching for the endemic pigeons, these birds were constantly battling and
chasing each other. Main differences with Chiffchaff seemed to be the song
(bubbly “chup-chup-chup” repeated) and the lighter coloured legs |
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Blackcap |
A pair of these birds were
building a nest at the same site in front of the hotel as the Chiffchaffs, and
were collecting fibres from the same palm tree trunks. First bird seen was the
female of the pair on the first morning, but the male was more frequently seen
after this |
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Spectacled Warbler |
These were found in exactly
the same habitat as the Berthelot’s Pipits – at Punta de la Rasca (6) and the
Amarilla golf course (2). However, they preferred to stay in the bushes and
scrub, as opposed to the open areas for the pipits, and were not quite as
approachable. Yet, they were easy to find, since they were singing at this time
of the year, and this was quite often from perches at the tops of the
vegetation |
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Robin |
Another subspecies,
although the bird I saw in the laurel forests didn’t look any different from
the nominate |
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African Blue Tit |
This species has just been
recently split from the nominate Parus caeruleus, and the birds seen in
Teneriffe are noticeably different. They have a much darker cap, and the wings
have no white on them, making the appearance of these birds much darker and
more dapper than their northern counterparts. They were also very easy to see,
with particularly close views of the birds at the Las Lajas picnic site, where
some came to the dripping tap (~20 here). They were a little more distant at
the laurel forest (~10) |
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Southern Grey Shrike |
These were only seen from
the track on the approach to Punta de la Rasca, where at least 2 birds were
obvious |
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Raven |
2 over the tops at the
laurel forest, and 1 near the Barbary Falcon nest site, again over the tops |
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Spanish Sparrow |
Very common around the
resort of Playa de las Americas, with some birds building nests |
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Chaffinch |
Only one seen, and this was
very briefly at the corner of the track through the laurel forest where I spent
some time scanning the peaks for the endemic pigeons |
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Blue Chaffinch |
Of all the specialities of
the island, this is probably the one I was looking forward to seeing most, and
they didn’t disappoint. The Las Lajas picnic site is reputed to be the easiest
place in the world to see these birds, and my visit did nothing to refute this
claim. Around 25 birds were eventually seen here, and they are very obvious,
singing and calling most of the time, as well as being so used to the presence
of people here that you can get very close to them. As with the other birds of
the site, one of the dripping taps proved very good for these birds |
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Island Canary |
Some of the reports seemed to suggest that these birds would take a little finding, but that was certainly not true when I was there. They were very easy to see and hear at the Las Lajas picnic site, and as with the other birds, occasionally came to one of the dripping taps that I had staked out. They were also regularly seen at the laurel forest. Eventual numbers were ~20 at the Las Lajas picnic site, and ~10 at the laurel forest |
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Species list |