The week before last, me and my dad headed south to have a week's birding on the island of Fuerteventura. We had a superb week, managing to catch up with all of our targets, often getting fantastic views too. I am slowly going through my photos, and over the next few weeks I will be putting them on my blog along with a brief account of the days birding...
We flew out on Saturday the 16th of February and arrived early afternoon. After picking up a hire car, we drove to the town of El Cotillo which would be our base for the week. This drive did prove productive and our first tick come almost immediately with a couple of
Plain Swift nicely lit as they flew next to the road. These would prove to be our only Plain Swifts of the trip. Two
Canary Islands Stonechats and a
Laughing Dove were also notable flybys on our drive from the airport.
Once we arrived at our apartment we had a bit of trouble getting in, so decided to have a walk on the beach we it looked onto. A couple of
Common Sandpipers were feeding among the rocks as well a
Redshank and twos of
Turnstone and
Whimbrel. A
Barbary Falcon gave a brief flyby, but unfortunately too fast for photos.
As we headed back to the apartment, we looked up to see a pair of
Southern Grey Shrikes sat on the roof, while
Spanish Sparrows were also obvious.
Day 2
On our second day, we spent a really enjoyable eight hours at Barranco de Rio Cabras, seeing a great selection of birds around the water ad scrubby areas, although we did fail to find the Dwarf Bittern. Before we arrived, we also had a couple of
Houbara Bustards by the FV-30 near La Oliva.
The water had attracted a few waders with ten
Black-winged Stilts, a
Snipe,
Green Sandpiper and two
Little Ringed Plover. Three
Little Egrets and a
Spoonbill were also on the grassy bank, and twelve
Ruddy Shelduck included a brood of eight ducklings.
Birds around the scrub on the bottom and walls of the barranco included several pairs of
Canary Island Stonechats, a party of four
African Blue Tits, at least fifteen
Trumpeter Finches, some
Spectacled Warblers and good numbers of
Berthelot's Pipits,
Spanish Sparrows and
Hoopoes. A few
Laughing Doves were also flying around the barranco floor.
As we walked back to the car, eleven
Egyptian Vultures were circling overhead with
Yellow-legged Gulls and
Common Buzzards, while a few
Lesser Short-toed Larks were also singing from an area of low scrub.
Non-avian sightings included a
Monarch butterfly and
Barbary Ground Squirrels, while odonata was represented by
Scarlet Darters,
Epaulet Skimmers,
Blue Emperors and
Sahara Bluetails.
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| Canary Islands Stonechats - male, females and juvenile |
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| Ruddy Shelduck |
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| Egyptian Vultures - adult and immature |
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| Common Buzzard ssp. insularum |
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| Spoonbill |
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| African Blue Tit |
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| Scarlet Darter |
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| Sahara Bluetail |
