This November's tour to the island of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands ran smoothly with great weather, super birdwatching and the use of an extremely comfortable hotel, well away from the tourist complexes dotted around the island's coast. Laughing Doves, Fuerteventura Chats and Spectacled Warblers were seen in the hotel gardens!
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| Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands group |
The names of some of the island bird species give a clue to the location of this group of volcanic islands with Barbary Falcons and Partridges, Desert Grey Shrikes and Trumpeter Finches all being found in dry arid, desert areas.
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| Juvenile Egyptian Vulture, Fuerteventura |
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| Houbara Bustard in flight |
Houbara Bustards are becoming very scarce in Morocco which lies some 80kms to the east of Fuerteventura and on both the Canary islands of Lanzarotte and Fuerteventura these rare birds are protected by law, like the Egyptian Vultures also on Fuerteventura. Both species have been studied and monitored for a good number of years.
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| Houbara Bustards |
Our birding and wildlife tour took in most of the known sites and we spent quite a bit of time walking on the coast and down some of the volcanic plains watching the coursers and bustards. Barbary Falcon was quite difficult to find but eventually we watched a young bird hunting Rock Doves and had real good views as it went around us. The other raptors which are distinct island races included the Common Kestrel and Common Buzzard. The recently re-named Desert Grey Shrike is also a joy to watch and study. As a mini-raptor, it's eyesight is astounding and hunts with ease small lizards, gecko's and all sorts of invertebrates. The birds hunting skills are an obvious bonus as these striking looking shrikes are fairly common on the island.
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| African Blue Tit |
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| Fuerteventura landscape |
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| Juvenile Barbary Falcon |
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| Barbary Partridges |
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| Female Fuerteventura Chat |
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| Male Fuerteventura Chat |
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| Berthelot's Pipit |
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| Trumpeter Finches |
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| Black-bellied Sandgrouse |
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| Cream Coloured Coursers |
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| Desert Grey Shrike |
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| Atlantic Lizard |
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| Laughing Dove |
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| Lesser Short-toed Lark |
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| Lesser Short-toed Lark |
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| Spectacled Warbler |
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| Pelagic Time off the coast with Cory's Shearwaters |
Dipping our toes in the Atlantic Ocean on a pelagic boat trip was a spontaneous affair when training our telescopes out to sea off the coastal town of El Cotillo, we saw large numbers of Shearwaters following a small fishing boat. Immediate negotiations took place with a local fisherman and a deal was struck and out we went to find Cory's Shearwaters and managed some stunning views.
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| Cory's Shearwater |
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| Fisherman from El Cotillo |
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| Happy Days! |
I'm leading another tour to the island next March and see that it's fully booked already.
Island tours are particularly popular these days and another tour that I'm looking forward to is to the island of
Sardinia in September. We'll be taking another pelagic boat trip on this trip as well to look at seabirds and to view the cliff nesting colony of Eleanora's Falcons.
