Having visited Tenerife, Madeira and Morocco previously I chose this eastern-most of the Canary islands as it had two world ticks available to me; I could bag a couple of new birds, enjoy a few I don't get to see too often and, perhaps most importantly, have a nice relaxing holiday with Jen.
We arrived late afternoon on 21st Jan, picked up our hire car and headed north to our place on the outskirts of Lajares - putting me in easy striking distance of good areas for seeking both of my target birds!
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| Spanish sparrow |
We settled into our small rustic house and as we enjoyed our first beer on Fuertenturian soil the sound of stone curlews filled the air. Nice.
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| Trumpeter finch |
A lazy start, followed by a good long walk to Corralejos, some 12km to the north. The route took us through some spectacular volcanic scenery, via Calderon Hondo with its impressive crater. Along the way we came across the first of many trumpeter finches, Berthelot's pipits and inquisitive Barbary ground squirrels.
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| Berthelot's pipit |
The first major highlight came as something of a surprise - a pair of Fuerteventura chats near a goat-cheese farm on the road down toward Corralejos.
World-tick numero uno on the list, on day one!
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| Fuerteventura chat |
Day two and an early rise for a bustard hunt! I got up rather too early however and arrived at the El Cotillo plains in total darkness.
By 7am it was just about getting light enough to figure out where the hell I was, and by 7.20am I could actually start to scan the area properly.
Stone curlews and lesser short-toed larks were vocal from the off. A kestrel was hunting around the area but I really struggled to find much else in the next hour and a half, other than a few ravens.
My luck changed at 8.45am when I spotted a male Houbara bustard engaged in full courtship display, just beyond a dilapidated farm building. Although quite distant I got great 'scope views as it went about its bizarre dance.
After watching this crazy display for quite some time I headed back to Lajares for breakfast, spotting the first of many hoopoe on the way.
With both target species seen, it was time to relax...
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| Spectacled warbler |
We also enjoyed some superb food and some very cheap and very acceptable Spanish red wine.
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| Houbara bustard |
I made a further two visits to El Cotillo plains and saw bustards every time, some closer than others but all at a fair distance. I only saw what I presumed to be the same cream-coloured courser, in the same area on two days (near a circular stone building on the side of the road beyond the small blind summit) and only saw black-bellied sandgrouse on one day (2 groups of 4 & 3 birds).
We also saw two Houbara at Rosa de Los Negrines, near La Oliva, including another displaying male.
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| Corn bunting |
We found African blue tit in the very attractive village of Vallebrรณn plus chiffchaff and laughing dove, plus another couple of Fuerteventura chat in the nearby valley.
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| African blue tit |
Other perceived migrants included a female marsh harrier at El Cotillo (25th) and a female black redstart at Lajares (27th).
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| Audouin's gull |
Highlights here included a lesser black-backed gull with the expected yellow-legged gulls, plus a couple of sandwich terns offshore.
A little egret, redshank and curlew were feeding in the lagoons. Totally unexpected however, were the 3 Audioun's gulls (2 adults & 1st winter) on the rocky shore.
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| Southern grey shrike |
All in all, Fuerteventura was a more interesting island than I had ever imagined and we had a very enjoyable trip with some really great birds.
And most critically two world ticks!
Jon
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