6.3.04
Arrived in the evening at Airport Tenerife Sur and drove via highway to Puerto dela Cruz and from there to Garachico (Didnīt stop at puerto cruz, wanted to reach Hotel-a finca near Garachico)
Birds at Airport : Canary, Collared dove, Blackbird
Birds seen on the road: Yellowlegged Gull, Kestrel, domestic pigeons, Blackbird
7.3.04
Walking around the gardens of the Finca (Hotel Rural El Patio, some old trees and Canary island Date Palms, as well as common Date Palms); through the banana plantations, and at the rocky shores; also observing the big water basins for water storage.
Birds that were everywhere in the area:
Canary, Canary islands chifchaff, Tenerife Blue Tit, Plain Swift, Turtle Dove, Kestrel, Blackbird, Yellowlegged gull
Only at weedy patches in the rocks near the beach:Yellow wagtail (flavissima), Greenfinch (together with lots of canaries)
Only at the water basins: Domestic Muscovies in one, a female Pochard in the other and a little egret sitting on the edge of that basin.
8.3.04
From the evening of that day onwards we regularly heard a Long Eared Owl calling in the Finca area, but we never managed to see it.
We visited the nice little town of Garachico then, that did have two nice churches and some typical canarien houses; also lots of Spanish sparrows, Canaries, domestic pigeons, Collared Doves, Plain swifts (tey also visited little cavities in the Roque de Garachico, a big rock in the bay (probably they were looking for breeding sites (or already breeding?). on the same Rock there was also a big colony of Yellowlegged Gulls, many pairs already occupying territories.
We then drove on towards the west and then started to climb up a small steep path in a valley not far from the Punta del Fraile. Beautyfull scenery, with lots of Euphorbias and Aeonium plants as well as Canarina canariensis, one of the most beautiful endemic flowers in my opinion. Back to birds: Sparrowhawk; Kestrel; Raven; Canary, Canary Islands Chifchaff; Turtle dove; domestic Pigeon, Tenerife Robin (song quite different from middle european Robins); Tenerife Blue Tit...
I will go on adding the next 11 days here one after the other, when I find time...
Jörn
The following day was Tuesday, 9.3.04 and we decided to go to the "Canadas del Teide"-NP, a rocky area with lots of volcanic rocs and sparse plant growths (Spartocytisus, an Erysimum, the famous Echium wildpretii (not flowering yet) and a few other endemics growing there) There were wast areas with no plant growths at all, not even lichens. but still we saw the ubiquitous Canary islands lizards; a common Kestrel hunting for them, some of the also ubiquitous Canaries and got our first view of Berthelots Pipit. as described in the book, itīs legs really seem to insert more backwards than in other pipits-looks slightly strange. They were quite tame. some were directly in the little area in front of the visitors center (this was the small visitor center east of the mountain Teide; there is a bigger one in the south of the mountain) . They had a nice botanical garden and some interesting literature: I bought the book where to watch Birds on Tenerife by E. Garcia del Rey there.
We had made two stops in the pine forest region above Aguamansa (coming from Orotava); one stop on the way up in a Forest of the Introduced and problem-causing (erosion!!) Monterey pine (Pinus radiata). There we had good views of Chaffinches of the race tintillon; Tenerife Blue Tits and also of the tiny, difficult-to-see Canary islands Kinglet-But no Blue Chaffinch.
The second stop (already on the way down was much more interesting as this was the way to La Caldera-an area where you could expect Blue Chaffinch!
And there they were: first an adult male in the sun on top of an endemic Juniperus cedrus tree; then male and female on the ground in a Canary Pine wood; the female hopping around looking for seeds; the male manipulating a pinecone bigger than itself with its beak, rolling it on the ground a few centimeters. We got really great views but it was too dark already for photographing...
On the way up in the morning we had also stopped at Cuesta de la villa , a village near Puerto de la Cruz; to by some stuff at the supermarked. There we saw free-flying Monk-Parakeets, two of them having a screeched argument with a Cockatiel who was sitting in a big aviary in a garden. There we also had Kestrel, collared dove and Blackbird- and a beautiful Monarch butterfly-The only one during our whole visit to the Canary-Islands...
to be continued
Wednesday, 10.3.04
Walking from the little mountain town Erjos (In the Teno Mountains, in the Northwest of Tenerife) through some fields and areas with Broom, Opuntia cacti and Agave americana (here Southern Grey Shrike, Canary, Canary Islands Chifchaff, domestic pigeons) into the famous laurel forest to see the endemic pigeons. The laurel forest was covered with clouds on late morning, but on the first Mirador (=viewpoint)( perhaps Mirador Emmerson, but no sign there indicating this and only a small path to the mirador) we heard a strange gurgling pigeon call. Some minutes later a Bolleīs pigeon burst out of a tree crown an was racing over the canopy; giving the impression of a fast small woodpigeon, coloured too dark. we went on through the forest the whole rest of the day, going several km on a good way (workers in the forest passed us with a four wheel drive) until we returned on the same way in the evening. suddenly the woods were full with birds (Tenerife Blue Tit , tenerife Robin; Canary Islands Chifchaff, Blackbird,(all singing) Common Bussard, Sparrowhawk (both Raptors seen from another viewpoint) and then Bolles Pigeon joined the concert, sounding like a Woodpigeon with a very sore throat, being extremely hoarse. This made clear that the pigeon we had heard in the morning at Mirador Emmerson had been the Laurel Pigeon, but we hadnīt seen it yet. We saw at least 12 Bolles pigeons on the way back in the evening and one bird that might have been a Laurel Pigeon but about that one we were not sure. So when we passed the Mirador Emmerson again we decided to look there again for Laurel pigeon and to wait until dawn. We were rewarded!!! One Laurel pigeon, clearly seen, but not for long as it was also flying fast over the canopy. 2 more Bolleīs pigeons we saw also there.
And Christiane found a beautyful tail feather of Bolleīs Pigeon!
Next Time I will follow Michael F.īs advice and visit this area in the early morning without that much clouds!! Eduardo Garcia del Rey gives similar advice. For the birds evening seems to be as good as early morning, but you can be sure there will be clouds then (morning can also be cloudy, but chance on no clouds is much better).
I readily agree on Laurel pigeon being the most difficult to see endemic!
But the Laurel Forest in itself is just great!!!
To be continued