Loja Wildlife, Granada Province, Spain.: 2025

Wednesday, 14 May 2025

Barranco deTabares in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Ferry to Gran Canary, Playa El Puertillo and Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, Canary Island, Spain.

The first transfer day.

Deb and Ian, Day Twenty.

Ebird List for Puerto de Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Ebird List for Cruz de Tenerife - Agaete ferry.

Ebird List for Agaete--Puerto de las Nieves.

We started the day with a steady breakfast and by doing the packing ready for our transfer to Gran Canaria, we set off early and checked out a deep Barranco in the town on the way where we tried hard but failed to find the African Collared Dove (Tórtola rosigris / Streptopelia roseogrisea).

We did however see African Blue Tit (Cyanistes Teneriffae / Herrerillo canario), Eurasian Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Small (Pieris rapae) and Tenerife Lizard (Gallotia galloti) before we headed for the port.

The Port.

We got on the ferry and found a good spot to do a bit of sea watching, before we left the port we saw Yellow-legged Gulls (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis) and a couple of Common Terns (Charrán Común / Sterna hirundo).

Common Tern (Charrán Común / Sterna hirundo).

Looking back into the Port.

On the way over to Gran Canary, it was very windy due to the speed of the boat but we did manage to see at least 18 Bulwer's Petrels (Petrel de Bulwer / Bulweria bulwerii) and 18 Cory's Shearwaters (Pardela Cenicienta Canaria / Calonectris diomedea borealis).

Leaving Tenerife.

Looking back to Teide from the Ferry.

Bulwer's Petrel (Petrel de Bulwer / Bulweria bulwerii).

Cory's Shearwater (Pardela Cenicienta Canaria / Calonectris diomedea borealis).

We arrived in the Port on Gran Canary and Deb quickly found at least 3 Peregrine / Barbary Falcon (Halcón Peregrino / Falco peregrinus pelegrinoides) on the cliffs above us.

The Cliffs of Gran Canary.

We headed off towards El Tablero but called in at Playa El Puertillo where we had a quick but unsuccessful look for the long staying Semipalmated Plover (Chorlitejo Semipalmeado / Charadrius semipalmatus) due to there being lots of people about and the tide being high, we did find lots of Red Rock Crabs (Grapsus adscensionis).

Red Rock Crab (Grapsus adscensionis).

In El Tablero we found and sorted our accommodation, we then found a supermarket and chilled but it was a noisy night due to it being the towns main fiesta and the stage was just a couple of hundred meters away, bad timing.

Tuesday, 13 May 2025

Los Cristianos / off Shore and back up over Teide, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.

Out looking for a few Sea Birds and Whales.

Deb and Ian, Day Nineteen.

Los Christianos Port.

Short-finned Pilot Whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus).

We set off early to get down to Los Christianos where we were going to go out on one of the many Whale Watching tours, we arrived early and went for a coffee before we boarded the boat (Mar de Ons Bahriyeli) and headed a short way out to sea, during the tour we did see a few Short-finned Pilot Whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus), quite a few Cory's Shearwaters (Pardela Cenicienta Canaria / Calonectris diomedea borealis) and some Yellow-legged Gull (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis).

Cory's Shearwaters (Pardela Cenicienta Canaria / Calonectris diomedea borealis).

La Gomera

Once we were back on dry land we made our way back up Teide by a different route via Vilaflor, Pino Gordo where we photographed a Echium virscens, Zona Recreativa Las Lajas and Ethnographic Museum Juan Évora.

Echium virscens.

Just passed this point we went along the TF-38 for a short way before we turned around and headed back along the road we had been along yesterday, as we went down we reached the Mirador Azulejos II where we made a stop to photograph the view as well as some Echium wildpretii plants and to look at the Green Geology.

TF-38 Lava Fields.

Echium wildpretii.

Green Geology.

We continued on to Minas de San Jose where we got some photo's of a couple of Berthelot's Pipit (Bisbita Caminero / Anthus berthelotii) and then moved on to Restaurante El Portillo where we had some lunch and watched the Tenerife Blue Chaffinch (Pinzón Azul de Tenerife / Fringilla teydea) and Atlantic Canary (Serin Canario / Serinus canaria) again.

Berthelot's Pipit (Bisbita Caminero / Anthus berthelotii).

Tenerife Blue Chaffinch (Pinzón Azul de Tenerife / Fringilla teydea).

Atlantic Canary (Serin Canario / Serinus canaria).

Once we were finished we retraced our steps slightly back to Centro de Visitantes El Portillo which was closing as we got there but we still did a walk around the Botanical Gardens seeing many of the plants we had seen on the Mountain including Cistus osbeckiifolius, Argyrathemum teneriffae, Descurainia bourgaeana, Erysimum scoparium, Tree Lucerne (Cytisus proliferus), Adenoarpus viscosus, Nepeta teydea, Sonchus acaulis, Summit Rosebush (Pterocephalus lasiospermus), Lotus campylocladus, Canary Aeonium (Aeonium canariense) and Ageratina adenophora plus others.

Cistus osbeckiifolius.

Nepeta teydea.

Lotus campylocladus.

Teide.

In the same area we had good views of some Tenerife Blue Chaffinch which had been bathing in a pool in the gardens and several Canary Island Chiffchaffs (Mosquitero Canario / Phylloscopus canariensis) and lots of Tenerife Lizards (Gallotia galloti).

Tenerife Blue Chaffinch (Pinzón Azul de Tenerife / Fringilla teydea).

Canary Island Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Canario / Phylloscopus canariensis).

Tenerife Lizards (Gallotia galloti).

We started to make our way back down the hill as we needed to do some packing ready to relocate in the morning but we made a roadside stop to photograph the Endemic Teide White Broom (Cytisus supranubius) and stopped at a spot where there was a view point over looking some incredible Geology.