Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria on the bike, November 2020

The aim of this (short) report is to focus on cleaning up target . No more, no less. Links in the report invariably lead to locations, either on observation (with pictures of ), or to google maps. Bad weather and Covid-19 were absent from this trip. Participants: Lieven De Temmerman and Brecht ​ ​ Verhelst (Belgium)

Fuerteventura

Tindaya plains: The obvious site to look for Houbara , Cream-colored Courser, Black-bellied ​ Sandgrouse, Red-billed Tropicbird (only seasonal, so not in November) and some secondary targets that can be had around the island ( , Trumpeter Finch).

Practicalities: We stayed at Magic Tindaya surf house: No magic, quite far from Tindaya on a grave road, ​ ​ as far from the sea as the surf house can be on the island, but there was a house and we were welcomed by Trumpeter finches. We ate at Restaurante Podomorfos in Tindaya and bought some food at the mini ​ ​ ​ ​ market in the centre of the village. ​ ​

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Houbara Bustard: they can be quite unobtrusive, but we found between 5-10 (or maybe some overlap in ​ numbers) mostly along the potholed asphalt road, West of the crossing with a gravel road. ​ ​

Cream-colored Courser: A that took some time to find. Coursers seemed to be very thin on the ​ ground during our November stay, until day 3 when we found 2 birds on the plains, before we headed ​ ​ back to Tindaya and found 3 bold birds virtually on the road in the village! ​ ​

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Black-bellied Sandgrouse: Many fly-overs, but we had some birds sitting on the ground. Always in small ​ groups (2-5). They can be anywhere but I had the best views close to our accomodation. ​ ​

Canary islands Stonechat: A bird that can be found anywhere on the island, e.g. here, here and here, but ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ the Barranco de Esquinzo is a good place that gave me a nicely colored male. Note that the Barranco is a ​ ​ bit tricky to drive through with a 2WD vehicle.

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Miscellaneous: You should see Eurasian Stone-curlew ssp insularum when you’re looking for , Coursers and ​ ​ ​ ​ Sandgrouses. We found a big group of 16 at dusk on the way to Tindaya. I also almost hit a bird on the ​ ​ ​ road in the middle in the village of La Oliva when looking for owls. ​ The only other birds on the plains were Berthelot’s pipits, Lesser Short-toed larks (Greater doesn’t occur), ​ ​ ​ ​ Spectacled Warbler and the odd flying-by Common Buzzard (ssp. insularum) or Egyptian Vulture (ssp. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ majorensis).

Last but not least: the cliffs North and South of the Playa de Esquinzo should be good for Red-billed ​ ​ ​ Tropicbird, but they only occur between (roughly) March and October (October is a guess, just assume in ​ summertime). During our stay, we had some stilts and some fish, but no tropicbirds.

Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria, 07-14 Nov. 2020 P.4 Betancuria is a convenient base to explore the surroundings. As a bonus, it’s officially one of the most ​ beautiful villages of Spain. We stayed at Casa Princess Arminda and ate there as well, if only because ​ ​ nothing else was open or closed very early in the evening, before we stopped owling.

The main target around Betancuria is Slender-billed Barn-owl. A good read about this owl on the Sound ​ ​ ​ Approach website. We had 2 nights to find the beast and were lucky enough to find one on the first ​ ​ outing. As the owl was both the hardest and most-wanted target, I’ll happily explain a bit more about our ​ preparation and our tactics.

While reading about this enigmatic and scarce of Tyto alba, we tried to fit 4 locations in our journey, where there have been sightings in the last 5 years. Because it is scarce and overlooked by visiting birders, we couldn’t find more than 10 observations online, that were (1) seemingly would give us a chance to reproduce a sighting. The requirements were that the observation was (1) reliable, (2) at least had GPS coordinates, (3) was a live bird (some observations concerned road kills), (4) didn’t involve a random sighting along a larger road from a car at night, and (5) preferably a hunting bird in good (far away from traffic but easy enough to access). Nesting locations were obviously not found online.

The funny thing with this owl (and Tyto owls) is that even if you have a good location with GPS, they still wander widely at night and aren’t the kind of owl that is guaranteed anywhere. Also, they seem to pop up in seemingly random places (outskirts of villages, barren lava plains, close and far away from human settlements…). In the end, we tried two locations near La Oliva (one West of Oliva, one in the village), and two locations near Betancuria (the Barranco de las Penitas and the broad area between Pajara and Toto). The locations near La Oliva didn’t deliver. The first location seemed like a good Barn owl hang-out (some ​ ​ farms, some palm trees, abandoned buildings), but there was a lot of traffic that Sunday night (people coming from the beach) and there was no good access to wander away from the road. This site probably

Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria, 07-14 Nov. 2020 P.5 has potential but should be accessed from the West (where there is a secondary road). The other location ​ was probably very random (outskirts of the village, with barking dogs around…). The locations near Betancuria seemed better, and we prioritized our efforts and time on the owling. The ​ Barranco de las Penitas looked to be ideal, with sightings of the Barn Owl and roosting records of ​ Long-eared Owl, but unfortunately, a European Eagle Owl that escaped from the local zoo has made this ​ ​ place his home, and any chance to find the smaller owls looks compromised with that big fella around. The barranco is still good for some (Atlantic Canaries are scarcer on Fuerteventura than e.g. Gran Canaria, but this is a good place to find them if not going to the Western islands), African Blue Tit ​ ​ ​ ssp. Degener, there is a roosting site for Egyptian Vulture and there is maybe a chance to see some ​ ​ ​ water birds (but there was no water when we were there).

The last location (we tried) seems to have the most observations, but those observations are scattered over a wide area. Some sightings (one with pictures) were at a site South of Toto with some fields, some ​ ​ buildings,.... But others have found the Owl between Toto and Pajara. In any case, the last sighting along this stretch was years ago, but the owl couldn't have disappeared as the landscape doesn’t change much.

So we decided to cycle slowly between Pajara and Toto, on the asphalted road, and back through the ​ barranco de Toto between Toto and Pajara, while continuously scanning every wall, hedge, tree and ​ building with a big torch. The whole area seemed good for the owl, so the complexity was that no one area looked better. We stumbled upon the owl during our second up-and-down scanning (we decided we would try at least 4 times), after 1.5 hours of searching. I couldn’t believe it at first and was too gobsmacked to reach for my camera. After watching around 30 seconds here, it crossed the barranco ​ ​ and flew over the road, out of sight. We immediately followed and scanned in a residential area with some houses and some barren plots of land. Luck was again at our side, as we found it again sitting on a fence, looking / listening and clearly on the ​ ​ hunt. This is where I got some (shaken) shots. After this moment that seemed to last very short (but ​ ​ probably around a minute), the owl flew again to the South, not to be found again. We searched a bit further South (halfheartedly as we already had excellent views), didn’t see a sniff, and decided to have a beer to celebrate in downtown Pajara (before we had to cycle in the dark back to Betancuria).

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So if we would have showed up 1 minute later at the first sighting, we probably would have missed the owl, and we could have spent the whole night (and consecutive night) scanning without a sniff. I guess we were lucky, but it’s clear the owl (or better owls) are around, and can be seen with persistence (and luck).

Besides the owl, Betancuria is just a very pleasant place to spend some time. There is a bit more species diversity (a short random walk in the village delivered Canary Islands Chiffchaff, Blackcap, European Goldfinch ssp. Parva, Black Redstart, Sardinian Warbler, (nominate) and even a couple of Common Starlings, a scarce bird on Fuerteventura), and the whole palm-dotted valley south of ​ ​ Betancuria, reminiscent of similar places in , with the villages of Vega de Rio Palmas and Ermita ​ de la Virgen de la Pena, is full of history and charm. ​

Miscellaneous: After finding the owl on the first night, we decided to do some sightseeing (on the bike) South of Betancuria. I drove all the way to Costa Calma, where the strip of irrigated green next to the ​ ​ central boulevard provides excellent habitat for vagrants, and it has an introduced population of Red-vented bulbul (amongst others). The stretch between La Pared and Costa Calma is very much a ​ desert with a (smaller than Tindaya?) population of Bustards, and the support cast of Coursers (and sandgrouses?). For those staying in Costa Calma on a package holiday, it’s obviously the closest place to go looking for the desert birds. We ended the day at the Barranco de las Penitas, only to hear (and see) the escaped Eagle Owl...

On the way back to Puerto de la Cruz to catch the ferry to Gran Canaria, we saw 2 more Houbara flying overhead and landing a bit West from the marker. So while the obvious hotspots of Tindaya / La Pared ​ ​ will give you the best chance, bustards can still be found on a variety of other places that look like they still hold unspoiled habitat.

Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria, 07-14 Nov. 2020 P.7 The ferry Not much to see but it’s a good idea to keep scanning, you never know what shows up. I mostly sat in the front of the boat with a view or around 90 degrees left and right. Whenever I saw something breaching I jumped out of my chair and ran to the side of the boat. It’s not a good time of year for Petrels and Shearwaters, but Flying-fish were plentiful. Species of interest: Cory’s shearwater (mostly, if not all near ​ ​ Fuerteventura), False Killer Whale (a pod of 4 near Gran Canaria), Cuvier’s Short-beaked Whale (even ​ ​ ​ ​ closer to Gran Canaria as the False Killer Whales), Tropical Two-finned Flying-fish (plenty). ​ ​

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Is there any other reason to bird Gran Canaria than to see a (wild) Gran Canaria Blue chaffinch?

The island has endemic subspecies of African Blue Tit (ssp. hedwigae), European Robin (ssp. Marionae) and Great Spotted Woodpecker (ssp. thanneri) that are NOT shared with adjacent islands.

Furthermore, I somehow missed the subspecies of Common Chaffinch many years ago on Tenerife, so I ​ ​ still had to see ssp. Canariensis. As I wasn’t going to Tenerife this trip, it was great to see the numbers of Atlantic Canaries (everywhere), Canary Islands Chiffchaff (also everywhere), and as a bonus, there is a ​ ​ ​ small population of reintroduced Laurel Pigeons in one of the last pockets of native Laurel forest still on ​ ​ the island, namely at Los Tilos. Another bird worth mentioning (but more widespread on the Canaries) is the canariensis subspecies of Long-eared owl. Together with the endemic subspecies of African Blue Tit ​ ​ (palmensis, ombriosus) and European Robin (Superbus) on some of the Western islands, it’s one I still miss.

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Back to species business. We arrived late in the harbour of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Instead of cycling 4-5 hours in the dark from sea level to around 1800 MASL, we decided to rent a car (from the very reputable and cheap CICAR) and shoved the bikes in the trunk. We stayed at Finca La Isa, a hippy ​ ​ ​ ​ hangout where covid-19 refugees had their last resort. The place had a magnificent view on the surroundings, and was conveniently close to both Llanos de la Pez (where Blue Chaffinch is reintroduced) ​ ​ and Pajonales (a stronghold of the finch, presumably with less reintroduced birds). ​ ​

Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria, 07-14 Nov. 2020 P.10 The next morning, we easily found the Blue chaffinches around the picnic area of Llanos de la Pez. Many (if not all?) birds here sport blue rings from a reintroduction project. So are these countable? I don’t know. We saw some more birds (Chaffinch ssp. canariensis, European Robin ssp. Marionae, Canary Islands ​ ​ Chiffchaff, African Blue Tit ssp. Hedwigae all within the course of an hour at this site or slightly down the road.

In the afternoon, we decided to visit the Laurel forest at Los Tilos. Sadly this is one of the only pockets of ​ ​ native laurel forest still on Gran Canaria. It’s a lush and beautiful place, compared to most of Gran Canaria, but for those having been to Tenerife or Las Palmas, it will probably feel like a trash area. Best is to park at the bottom of the valley (on the marker in the link above) and walk up (the road is super narrow and there is no parking higher up). We found some of the reintroduced Laurel Pigeons high on the ​ hillsides, after scanning, more Common Chaffinches (sadly no pictures, I love these birds!), a Blackbird ​ ​ ssp. Cabrerae, .... ​

On the last day of the trip, I decided not to take any risks with the Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinches at Llanos de la Pez which are probably not tickable, and first parked the car where the asphalt stops, and ​ ​ because I felt I was running out of time in to catch my flight, I decided to drive the car all the way to ​ this point. I randomly stopped and found a pair of finches around here. Note that it was close to mid day ​ ​ ​ and activity was very low. The whole area also seems to be drier and the forest is much more open than at Llanos de la Pez. So finding finches here should be done best in the morning.

Full trip list (53 species including non-countable birds: Eurasian Eagle Owl (escape), Barbary Partridge ​ (introduced) and Red-vented Bulbul (introduced))

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