This birding trip was booked as a late deal with Airtours through Lastminute.com. The self-catering accommodation was at the Apart Reveron in Los Cristianos which proved to be a good base. Five days car hire (Seat Marbella) was cheap at 96 Euros (about £62). Although the car would have failed its MOT on several points, it served us well and coped with the steep climbs which are a part of driving on this volcanic island. Although similar to other people's experiences we did find some differences from the published information in Gosney, Clarke & Collins and Del Rey which may be of interest. This is particularly the case concerning ferries to and from La Gomera. All three of the guidebooks above were used and directions to sites have not been repeated here. If you can only afford one, Clarke & Collins is perhaps the best as it gives information on where to go on Gomera, which Del Rey does not, although Del Rey does give some extra sites on Tenerife. Gosney is very brief and does not give much more information than the other two for any of the sites although it is nice to read somebody else's experiences when doing the same thing that you are.
A note on using the boats (see also note under Day 2); we took our car to La Gomera as this was cost effective and saved time finding a car when we arrived there. We did not take a car to El Hierro as we were not stopping there - we just went for the seabirds seen from the boat. When watching from the boats I found it useful to scan the more distant areas with binoculars and then to have a look about closer to the boat as many birds appeared alongside as did cetaceans, a turtle and flying fish. Scopes were very useful and easy to use as we experienced pretty calm conditions. They meant we were generally able to sort out the Storm Petrels as these never came close. This may be particularly important for winter visits when Madeiran Storm-petrel is a distinct possibility (although calm seas may be less so). Just before our visit, Red-billed Tropicbird, White-faced Storm-petrel and South Polar Skua had all been reported from the La Gomera ferry. We hoped we may encounter such less expected species on our El Hierro trip but this was not to be - check the sailing times of slow (conventional, not "seacat" type) ferries as they change frequently and you may find an evening sailing to or from one of the more distant islands. It seems the later the sailing, the better (or at least more numerous) the birds.
Day 1 - Los Cristianos and Amarilla Golf Course.
With our arrival being in the early hours we caught up on some sleep before heading down to the port to book our ferry trip to La Gomera. Around our apartments, as on every day, were Collared
Dove,
Spanish Sparrow, Plain Swift and
Canarian Chiffchaff. Throughout the trip views of the last two species were frequent and often excellent allowing them to be much more easily identified than I had expected. In the harbour were Yellow-legged Gulls of the sub-species
atlantis.
In the afternoon we explored some stony fields behind the apartments which were actually at the base of Guaza mentioned in Del Rey. As well as the above species, we had brief views of
Southern Grey Shrike as well as about six
Berthelot's Pipits. Also present were Blackbird and Blackcap.
Late afternoon (about 17:30) we picked up our car and headed off to the Amarilla golf course and reservoir. The reservoir dam produced more Berthelot's Pipits, one Common Sandpiper and a Grey Wagtail but no herons. At the golf course we quickly found two
Hoopoes on fairways by the club house and two more grey wags around the pools there. We looked for the stony fields to the NW of the fairways but they seem to have disappeared beneath an extension of the golf course. We walked up the rough track between the fairways to the "stony plain" mentioned in the guides. A Turtle Dove flew by and eventually we tracked down four
Lesser Short-toed Larks between some rather lush grass patches (presumably used to patch up the fairways) and piles of crushed pumice. Also present were about 30 Little Ringed plovers which had obviously bred well as the were many chicks of a range of ages among them.
Back at the dam there were now four Little Egrets but there was no sign of the Western Reef Egret which had been present the previous week. Then, one of the few surprise birds of the trip circled over before disappearing - 2 Night Herons, an adult and 1st summer. With light fading we then moved to the Golf del Sur where there were 15 Little Egrets beside the lake and the same or another adult Night Heron flew over. We also had superb views of Kestrel here.
Day 2 - La Gomera.
NB: Most guides to the Canaries recommend the Fred Olsen ferry to La Gomera because of the vantage points for sea-watching at the bow. Things seem to have changed, however, as now Fred Olsen only run a high speed catamaran service to the island with very restricted outside viewing on a boat which is too fast to see anything anyway. Fortunately we realised this before we booked and so took the Trasmediterranea ferry instead. Books recommended port out and starboard home which we followed. On the outward trip we saw over 300
Cory's Shearwaters - some incredibly close, a real highlight - one
Pomarine Skua (unexpected) and one European Storm-petrel (poor views).
The main target species for La Gomera were the two laurel pigeons. The drive up into the laurel forests produced Blue Tit (
teneriffae), Raven, Sparrowhawk and Buzzard. The bar La Carbonerra, which is mentioned as a good spot to watch for pigeons, was closed and looked as if it had been for some time, with chains across the entrance drives. We continued upwards after taking the road first left after the bar as indicated in the guides. We stopped at various points to scan but were not as successful as others appear to have been in the past. We saw nothing from the lay-by 4.3km after the junction (Gosney's best site) and continued to the Mirador del Bailedero. Immediately there was a small flock of island Canaries which gave good views beside the track. Canarian Chiffchaff also provided good views here but the Canarian Kinglets, which we heard at many sites on La Gomera, remained hidden all day. Having walked down through the viewpoint and down the steps to the "saddle" between the two peaks we quite quickly gained several (about six) very good views of
White-tailed Laurel Pigeon flying between the peaks and a very brief view of a single Bolle's. This appeared to also be a good site for Buzzard and Sparrowhawk.
We drove further on and turned right down a narrow, windy, yet busy track to Monte del Cedro to the picnic site. No pigeons here but we did get good views of a male Chaffinch (endemic race,
tintillon) feeding a fledgling beside the car park. We next drove back to the lay-by where we had previously seen nothing and waited for about 30-40 minutes. In that time we had two more moderately good views of white-tailed pigeon and four tantalising yet poor views of Bolle's. We drove back to La Carbonerra and managed to pull off the road. We walked around the abandoned building for about 20 minutes keeping an eye on the hillside but saw nothing of interest. We drove back to the port with me happy that I had had poor views of Bolle's Laurel Pigeon (it is just a pigeon, after all!) but my birding partner (who had missed some of the birds I had seen) feeling he had yet to positively identify this species.
The ferry trip back was superb with several hundred Cory's again including some large rafts and some even closer birds than in the morning. Also seen were three
Bulwer's Petrels - one distant, one at perhaps 200m from the boat and finally another which flew alongside for a few minutes at less than 100m giving superb views. On the non-bird side were a small turtle (loggerhead?), two very small flying fish looking like large dragonflies and a pod of about 5 (short-finned) pilot whales, the latter being just outside Los Cristianos harbour.
In the evening we returned to Amarilla Dam but again there was no sign of the reef egret although there were nine Little Egrets, a common sand. and two grey wags.
Day 3 - Teide and La Ladera de Tigaiga.
Mount Teide dominates the island of Tenerife. We drove straight to Las Lajas picnic site looking unsuccessfully for Rock Sparrow on the way on wires around the towns on the way up. We arrived with no one else about and first bird in the car park was predictably
Blue Chaffinch. A pair were feeding around the picnic tables. We settled down to watch them when a very noisy family arrived. All the birds scattered and despite waiting (they must be used to noisy picnickers) did not return. We wandered about the area and had many views of Blue Chaffinch but none as good or as close as the first. Better views were had of Great-spotted Woodpecker, with several around the area, as well as many Island Canaries (commonest bird here) and Blue Tits. There were also Canarian Chiffchaffs and Plain Swifts with a probable
Pallid Swift whizzing through and Raven and Turtle Dove in the trees. We followed a male Blue Chaffinch through the trees until it eventually gave prolonged, close views on the ground feeding a recently-fledged chick. Satisfied with our views we moved on to La Ladera de Tigaiga (see Del Rey) for another shot at the laurel pigeons. On the way we passed through the stunning Teide National Park although few birds were seen. The directions to the laurel forest in Clarke are complicated but accurate. Once perched high on the hillside we began to see the characteristic birds and it was here that we gained are only good views of
Canarian Kinglet which was plentiful and easy to observe. There were also many Blue Tits, Canarian Chiffchaff and Island Canaries as well as a few Blackbirds and common Chaffinches. Also here while waiting for the pigeons we saw Robin (ssp.
superbus). Pigeons were again thin on the ground (or in the air!) but three hours of watching produced a couple of good views of white-tailed and about 15 poor to acceptable views of
Bolle's Laurel Pigeon. White-tailed appeared to fly away from the trees and more slowly than Bolle's, thus making it easier to observe. Conversely, Bolle's hurtled past close to the trees, was more difficult to pick out and was gone again within a second or two. Eventually we did see one perched for a split second and then had good views as it flew away. Finally my partner was satisfied. He had difficulty picking out the birds and saw about half the number that I did. Also present here were Buzzard, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk. In this one day we had seen all of Tenerife's endemic species except Berthelot's pipit (which would have been easy if we had tried for it in the right areas).
Day 4 - Punta de Teno.
The drive to this site was a long one on difficult roads. We checked overhead wires for Rock Sparrow but none were evident. Once we had arrived a sign appeared to say that the road around the cliffs was closed! However, a lot of people seemed to be ignoring this and so we did likewise. We stopped at all three sites mentioned in Clarke for
Barbary Falcon. At the first we had cracking views of Plain Swift as well as feral pigeon and Kestrel. At the third site "yet another kestrel" turned out to be a male Bab's falcon when I lifted my binoculars. We had excellent views of it perched on the cliff for a minute or so before it sailed off out of sight. Subsequent views only showed it silhouetted against the sky. Raven and Buzzard were also seen here.
At the punta itself we had moderately distant views of Cory's shearwaters, yet more excellent views of Plain Swift and about six or so Pallid Swifts which looked much larger, chunkier and positively ginger in colour compared to the Plain Swifts. Their flight was also distinctly slower and steadier. Also present were Berthelot's pipits and this was the only site where I saw the large, slow Canary lizard.
On our return we stopped at Teno Alto (quite a detour - see Del Rey) where we failed again to see Rock Sparrow, but did catch up with Linnet,
Spectacled Warbler, Sardinian Warbler and flocks of Island Canaries. The mist and rain at this site made looking for the sparrows difficult.
On the way back we tried the Barranco del Infierno where we saw Blue Tit, Blackbird, Kestrel, Plain Swift and Sardinian Warbler. Unfortunately it was late and we did not have enough time to go high enough up the barranco to find Barbary Partridge.
Day 5 - Guaza Mountain.
Not a busy day today, but one that began with an early climb up to the plateau on Guaza mountain on the edge of Los Cristianos. This is billed as the last stronghold of Trumpeter Finch on the island. Our 3-4 hours climbing to and wandering about on the plateau produced only
Southern Grey Shrike (two or three birds), Berthelot's Pipit, Plain Swift and feral pigeon. Later in the day a
Pallid Swift flew over the apartments.
Towards the end of the day I visited the reservoirs at Guargacho. None held any water but were quite green in their bases. Three
Hoopoes were present in reservoir number 2 as well as a number of Blackbirds and Berthelot's Pipits. I then moved on to Amarilla Dam where there were 22 Little Egrets and two Grey Wagtails.
Day 6 - Ferry to El Hierro.
As we had seen all the endemics we had hoped to see, we decided to spend our last full day by taking a return trip to one of the further islands, El Hierro. Fred Olsen run a "slow ferry" to El Hierro from Los Cristianos. The trip takes a little over four hours each way and left Los Cristianos at 07:30 arriving at El Hierro at about 12:00. It then leaves there to return at 13:30. Once you take in to consideration the time taken to board the boat etc. you have only about 1 hour on the island. However, we were looking for seabirds and so this was immaterial.
The trip out was certainly the best for birds with that coming back somewhat disappointing and hardly any better than the trip back from La Gomera. This was probably due to the fact that it does the section from La Gomera to Los Cristianos just about a full hour before the La Gomera ferry. The later you are on the water, the better and it would probably repay the effort to find a slow ferry which is at sea for a couple of hours immediately before dusk - perhaps the Palma ferry?
That said, we weren't disappointed. The trip to El Hierro produced several thousand Cory's Shearwaters, one Manx Shearwater, ten
Little Shearwaters (a couple giving good views alongside the boat), nine Storm-petrels (almost all positively identified as European) and four
Bulwer's Petrels as well as six Little Egrets at Los Cristianos and four large, deep blue flying fish just outside the harbour at El Hierro.
On El Hiero there was little vegetation around the port and no scope (or for that matter, inclination) to walk far and consequently our El Hierro list only stretched to Yellow-legged Gull, feral pigeon and Kestrel.
The homeward trip gave us seven Bulwer's petrels, three European Storm-petrels, about 200 Cory's Shearwaters but no more Little Shearwaters. Mammals were more in evidence on this trip with 3-4 bottle-nosed dolphins near to El Hierro, about seven Atlantic spotted dolphins an hour out of El Hierro which included one very small juvenile and finally seven short-finned pilot whales very close to the boat just outside Los Cristianos. This brought our birding on Tenerife to a close.
Species Lists
Bulwer's Petrel Bulweria bulwerii La Gomera + El Hierro ferries
Cory's Shearwater Calonectris diomedia borealis La Gomera + El Hierro ferries + Punta de Teno
Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus 1, ferry to El Hierro
Little Shearwater Puffinus assimilis baroli 10, ferry to El Hierro
European Storm-petrel Hydrobates pelagicus La Gomera + El Hierro ferries
Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax Amarilla Dam + Golf del Sur
Little Egret Egretta garzetta Amarilla Dam + Golf del Sur + Los Cristianos
Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus granti Several laurel forest sites
Common Buzzard Buteo buteo insularum Several laurel forest sites + Punta de Teno
Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus canariensis Common throughout
Barbary falcon Falco pelegrinoides Teno cliffs
Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius Amarilla golf course
Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos Amarilla Dam
Pomarine Skua Stercorarius pomarinus Ferry to La Gomera
Yellow-legged Gull Larus cachinnans atlantis Common on coast
Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon Columba livia Common in all habitats.
Bolle's Pigeon Columba bollii La Gomera + La Ladera de Tigaiga
White-tailed Laurel Pigeon Columba junoniae La Gomera + La Ladera de Tigaiga
Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto Common throughout
Barbary Dove Streptopelia risoria 'Odd' birds which matched this species seen around Los Cristianos
Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur Amarilla golf course, Las Lajas, Punta de Teno
Plain Swift Apus unicolor Abundant throughout
Pallid Swift Apus pallidus brehmorum Punta de Teno (6 birds) + Los Cristianos (1)
Hoopoe Upupa epops Amarilla golf course (2) + Guargacho Res (3).
Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major caneriensis Easily seen at Las Lajas
Lesser Short-toed Lark Calandrella rufescens polatzeki Four birds at Amarilla golf course
Berthelot's Pipit Anthus berthelotii berthelotii Frequent in dry, stony habitat throughout
Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea canariensis Observed flying over most days but best views had at Amarilla Dam and golf course
Robin Erithacus rubecula superbus La Ladera de Tigaiga (3)
Blackbird Turdus merula cabrerae Common but shy
Spectacled Warbler Sylvia conspicillata orbitalis Teno Alto (2)
Sardinian Warbler Sylvia melanocephala leucogastra Teno Alto (2), El Barranco del Infierno (2)
Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla One at the base of Guaza
Canarian Chiffchaff Phylloscopus caneriensis Abundant throughout
Canarian Kinglet Regulus teneriffae Heard on La Gomera and finally seen at La Ladera de Tigaiga
Blue Tit Parus caeruleus teneriffae La Gomera, Las Lajas, La Ladera de Tigaiga + Barranco del Infierno
Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis koenigi Guaza (2-3)
Raven Corvus corax tingitanus La Gomera, Las Lajas and Punta de Teno
Spanish Sparrow Passer hispaniolensis Common around human habitation
Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs tintillon La Gomera (2) + La Ladera de Tigaiga (4)
Blue Chaffinch Fringilla teydea teydea Las Lajas (c. 20)
Island Canary Serinus canaria Common, especially at higher altitudes.
Linnet Carduelis cannabina meadewaldoi Teno Alto (5)
Guide books used;
Tony Clarke's and David Collins' guide A BIRDWATCHERS' GUIDE TO THE CANARY ISLANDS
Dave Gosney's FINDING BIRDS IN THE CANARY ISLANDS
Eduardo García del Rey's WHERE TO WATCH BIRDS IN TENERIFE
