There have been a few trip reports done from Fuerteventura but relatively few from summer and from the north of the island-so here’s my tuppence worth.
The trick for our summer holidays is to get somewhere not too hot (wife dislikes real heat), somewhere that has something for a hormonal teenager to do and somewhere preferably with a few birds so that I can wander off early whilst the other 2 sleep. So we headed for Fuertebventura in late June. It wasn’t too hot (with low humidity and a strong and sometimes very strong northerly breeze ) and surf school kept my daughter entertained-so that was 2 of the boxes ticked. I was based 2 miles south of Corralejo in the North of the island
I had assiduously printed off some trip reports and features of some of the subspecies that are present to see if I could pick out the differences once out there. Shame then that I left them on the computer table……
As it was a family holiday I was only able to get out first thing for a couple of hours. Sunset was frustratingly late at just after 7. Anyway I had a car for a week and got out on 5 or 6 mornings for a couple of hours as well as having a couple of looks at areas on family days out.
Conditions were often grey and cloudy first thing-this was fine for birding but made photography tricky. Autofocus early in the morning set itself at about 1/20s, no use for scuttling desert species-images taken at 1/100 second just looked black but I was able to retrieve some poorish images (my excuse anyway)..
Of the commoner birds spannish sparrows and collared doves seemed everywhere. Hoopoes were common around settlements and in the hotel's grounds. Southern Grey shrikes were numerous, kestrels were the commonest raptor and there seemed reasonable numbers of buzzards and ravens. Berthelot’s pipits were very numerous-I counted 25 calling on one 5 mile mountain bike ride. Yellow legged gulls were the only gulls seen.
So on to the areas visited
Corralejo-the beach and dunes from our hotel north to the town, though a protected area, has fairly heavy human traffic all day. It therefore seemed something of a minor miracle to find 2 pairs of Kentish plovers with chicks in amongst the sunbathers, kitesurfers etc. There was a solitary sanderling as well. An evening visit a few days later at low tide produced 15 adult Kentish plovers. These were the only shore based waders we saw all holiday. On a walk in to town we saw 2 heron like birds shimmering in the distant heat haze. “Look spoonbills “ said my occasional birding wife. “Nonsense they’ll be little egrets” said I safe in the knowledge that spoonbills are only accidentals on the island. “Bet you a cold beer” said my good lady-yes I did end up buying.
Lajares-on our first afternoon we went for a walk up the Sandero Bayuyo volcano just outside the village-it is the only marked countryside walk on Fuerteventura. I hadn’t expected to see many birds in the rather barren country but we picked up our first flock of 20 trumpeter finches (many juveniles) on the hillside and surprisingly so far north a male canary island chat-I hadn’t expected to find this species so quickly.
The road from Lajares to Majanicho proved productive for Barbary partridges. I saw flocks of around 15 and 5 on 2 mornings. Half way along the road the vegetation is more lush and the birds seem attracted to the roadside. At Majanicho the road becomes a track and just as I decided to turn round I picked up 2 birds in the scrub-a pair of stone curlews
To be continued
Los Molinos-this reservoir is the only permanent area of water on the island. It was in a fairly sorry state with water only present for a 20-30 yard stretch-and this was just before the driest months of the year. Most of the tamarisk round the edge had died/was dying. It is not possible to walk the length of the reservoir any longer. There is a barrier and beyond this an electric fence. There were a few trumpeter finches around the parking area. On the waters edge were 2 black winged stilts and 6 ruddy shelducks. Here we also saw a buzzard and 2 good candidates for pure rock doves.
El Cotillo-I spent my first morning with the car here and it was bit disheartening. The wind was blowing at around 30mph and it was blowing across the plains straight into the car. The sand and dust made life really hard. The area looks fine and there is a good long track to scan from. I guess the weather made it hard. I only had a pair of ravens and another stone curlew for my troubles
La Oliva-the area described by Clark and Collins to the north west of the village seems to be turning into a quarry and was not productive. I found some tracks to the south west of the village and this proved to be an area of great birding. One track was driveable for about 4km and from this I had a lot of luck. Over a couple of mornings I saw 3 pairs of Houbara bustards including one pair in lovely elegant languid flight with their long wings and distinctive white patch on their primaries. I had groups of 8,6,5 and 2 black bellied sandgrouse on the ground and in flight. One group were on the ground just 20 yards away upwind and initially oblivious to my presence at first. Further on as the track flattened out I saw 2 single cream coloured coursers scuttling about in the vegetation-one took off for a short distance showing its dark underwing. I also had groups of 20 and 10 short toed larks here. Trumpeter finches were relatively common up towards the village. The bushes and scrub by the village also had good numbers of linnets (presumably subspecies harterti) and I picked out a couple of spectacled warblers. A major piece of luck outside the village was seeing a small falcon hurtling after a dove, missing and flying up to land on an electricity pylon allowing me to get my travel scope out and see that it was a female barbary falcon.
Las Penitas-we had a trip to Betancuria and visited this area described in Clarke and Collins. The barranco held a very small trickle of water and there were a lot of finches around drinking. There were at least 20 trumpeters and goldfinch with young. I thought I might see greenfinches but was surprised to here the jangle of a serin and then see it in view(not listed as being on the island). Turtle doves were present in good numbers and there were a few skulking Sardinian warblers. No sign though of Egyptian vultures nor of African blue tit. Further on towards the dried out lake I saw another pair of canary island chats
So it seemed possible to see most of the islands specialities staying almost exclusively in the northern half of the island. Though not a great number of species it was lovely getting out in the cool mornings driving the tracks and just seeing what you could see
Nice report Mark. I think Spoonbills are regular visitors, I certainly saw some when I went there. I seem to recall reading about Canaries being in the Betancuria area, probably released, but not Serins so sounds like a good record.
Regards,
Stephen.