This was a typical birders’ family holiday – early mornings and evenings spent dashing about the best sites closest to the accommodation; occasional extended trips to mop up the further flung sites; and picking up scraps to and from family excursions. We were based in the resort of Playa de los Cristianos at the Atlantida Hotel which was less than 20 minutes drive to the site marked with * below. This hotel was clean and friendly but not plush compared to the other bigger hotels in the resort. We hired a car on arrival at the resort and was able to negotiate a better deal than those offered on the internet before departure. The resort was very quiet, which suited us, and close to good beaches just northwest of the Los Cristianos ferry terminal. Another beach of note for the kids was the one at La Caleta, northwest of Playa da las Americas. Overall, this was a pressure free holiday for the birder with family. All the landbird specialities could be mopped up at leisure but perhaps more dedicated seawatching and boatbirding would be needed to score with any of the rarer seabirds.
Rather than repeat site information already published in recent trip reports and birdwatching guides, I have picked out the highlights from my visits with a few comments on how I found these sites and my observations on birdfinding. As reference I used ‘Finding birds in the Canary Islands’ by Dave Gosney (1996); ‘A birdwatchers’ guide to the Canary Islands’ by Tony Clarke & Dave Collins (1996); ‘Birds of the Atlantic Islands’ by Tony Clarke (2006); and recent trip reports by Bob Swann (October 2005) posted on several websites. All sites are referred to in these publications. Like other visitors, I found that Berthelot’s Pipit and Canary Islands Chiffchaff were very common just about everywhere; with the pipit only absent in the depths of the laurel forest at Monte del Agua.
Puenta del la Rasca*
Ten visits all early morning: barbary partridge, berthelot’s pipit, spectacled warbler all common in the scrub leading to the lighthouse. Also southern grey shrike and kestrel seen on every visit. Offshore, cory’s shearwaters were very common with up to 250 seen most mornings whatever the condition. Apart from the local herring gulls nothing else of note. Together with the following site, this was an excellent ‘local patch’ for the fortnight; with the sites’ past history there was always expectation that something good could turn up; unfortunately it didn’t produce the goods for me.
Roquito del Fraile*
Ten visits all early morning: no real changes in birds from the first visit with 50+ coot, 4 juvenile greenshank, one juvenile curlew sandpiper and one little egret.
Golf del Sur*
Three visits: birded up and down the road scanning the fairways, greens and pools as no access to the course. Blackbird, chiffchaff, berthelot’s pipit, and grey wagtail common. Up to three hoopoes, female shoveler, 4 moorhen, 1 little egret and a min. of 8 cattle egrets kept things interesting while 4 fulvous whistling duck and a long-tailed glossy starling raised an eyebrow.
Embalse Ciguana*
Two visits: only a little egret and a grey heron. Very little water in this reservoir with only a puddle to attract the herons.
Guargacho Reservoir 1*
5 visits: only one of the reservoirs to hold water or birds. On each visit (first on 7th, last on 21st) up to 11 little ringed plover, one juvenile spotted sandpiper, grey wagtail and Spanish sparrow very common. This held the same birds from visit one to five. However, it did turn up the only transatlantic vagrant.
El Medano Lagoon*
One visit: notable with 6 Kentish with the 6 little ringed plover. All plovers were very approachable here and the surrounding area was brim full of berthelot’s pipits.
San Miguel Viewpoint - 822 Los Cristianos to Granadilla de Abona
One visit: first trip out on the way to Vilaflor. Stopped at the café and looked out towards to Los Cristianos to see a juvenile/1st winter booted eagle mobbed by an adult Barbary Falcon. Not sure we would have stopped here had we not spotted a large raptor fly across the road in front of us as we drove up the road.
Las Lajas
Three visits: the target species were all common and straightforward especially on finding the ‘best’ drinking pool. On all visits, a couple of rangers would arrive and park next to the building closest to the football pitch. Very close to this building is a group of three pine trunks where a small pool (less than 50 cms. across) has been built. The rangers fill this pool up every day then sit back and go to sleep while a constant procession of blue chaffinches, great spotted woodpeckers and canaries goes on within a few metres of their snoozing. Any photographers should find this drinking pool a very rewarding site to get your frame-fillers. Tenerife goldcrests were common around the picnic sites and a couple of hoopoes also seen here. Despite this being a forested area I found berthelot’s pipit very common here.
Aguamansa
This picnic site south of Puerto de la Cruz was an excellent spot for a family barbecue, adventure playground and some excellent birding. The pine forest species were all relatively easy to see including blue and common chaffinch together. This was the only site I saw plain swift.
La Grimona
Two visits: this is an absolute must for anyone needing the tricky laurel pigeon, especially if time is limited. To find this obscure parking place, when heading north on the T5 towards Puerto del la Cruz, turn off at the Socorra beach exit and turn back south-west down the T5. There will be three tunnels – one long and then another long followed immediately by a short tunnel, after this prepare for the parking spot on the right; there is only room for 4-5 cars and the area for looking out to sea is quite small. However, most interest to birders is inland; sit on the wall and scan the laurel trees above and across the road. This isn’t the lush laurel forest I was expecting; it is a scrubby area with clumps of large trees on a very steep slope with crags. I expect the reasons why pigeons are so easy to see here are : that enough laurel is still present to support pigeons; observers are looking up and through the spindly trees and therefore can scan large exposed branches which is quite unlike other laurel forest areas where viewpoints tend to look down on large tracts of contiguous canopy. In addition, as this laurel ‘forest’ is perched on the side of crags and cliffs it may be best suited to breeding laurel pigeons, which nest in crags, rather than bolle’s pigeons which nest in trees (see Clarke 2006 p.g.270). I’m sure there will be other reasons.
On first visit, after 10 minutes wait in the mid afternoon, I witnessed 5 flypast and eventually one perched out in the open. On the second visit after 5 minutes in mid afternoon, 6 fly past and two perched. All were laurel pigeons. A telescope is very handy at this site
Monte del Agua
Two visits: decided to go for the lookout found by Bob Swann in October 2005. This lookout is more accessible and not as far to walk as the other viewpoints often quoted in guidebooks and trip reports. Approximately 1 km from the radio masts there is a sharp left hand turn on the track; here there is a path heading into the scrub (look out for the white and yellow painted marks on the rocks); carry on down this path and set-up at the rocky outcrops. Bolle’s pigeon were regularly seen on both mid afternoon visits – up to seven; only single laurel pigeons seen on each visit. During the second visit, on heading back to the car (parked at the obvious masts – 0.7 km from the main road) I managed to see 8 bolle’s on the ground feeding on fallen fruit in the last gully before the edge of the forest. Then, near the car, I disturbed one further bolle’s from low scrubby laurels; and then at the car I scanned the scrubby laurel towards the Erjos pools and saw two more bolle’s feeding in the top of a bush. While walking along the track through the laurel forest, there would be constant fluttering and clapping of wings in the canopy, which I assumed were pigeons. The forest was very good for blackbird, chiffchaff and Tenerife goldcrest.
Erjos Ponds
Three visits: Sardinian warbler, linnet, goldfinch, Spanish sparrow, canary and blue tit all very common. On the pools nothing too exciting although it was the only site for moorhen. A very lush habitat especially compared to the surrounding land and has a web of tracks leading through the scrub around the pools.
Miradors above Santiago del Tiede
Three visits: canaries very common in the small fields in the valley. One excellent view of an adult barbary falcon soaring over the valley.
Ferry to La Gomera
Return trip: used the afternoon Armas ferry departing Los Cristianos at 14h00 arriving at San Sebastian at 15h10 which is slower than either of the Fred Olsen ferries. I saw many hundreds of cory’s shearwaters but unfortunately nothing more interesting on the bird front. However, as well as the pilot whales and couple schools of common dolphins; we saw a fin whale approximately 20 minutes before arriving at San Sebastian. We didn’t have time for birding on La Gomera other than a wander around San Sebastian where we saw nothing of note other than the entertaining schools of fish at the marina. The return, departing at 17h00, produced many more cory’s and a small school of common dolphins.