Loja Wildlife, Granada Province, Spain.: Las Raíces, Pico del Inglés, Calle Monte Mesas, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.

Saturday, 10 May 2025

Las Raíces, Pico del Inglés, Calle Monte Mesas, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.

Our first full days birding on Tenerife with several more Lifers for Deb and Ian and Year birds for me.

Deb and Ian, Day Sixteen.

Ebird List for Las Raíces.

Ebird List for Pico del Inglés.

Ebird List for Calle Monte Mesas, Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

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

We were up and about early as we guest that the sites we wanted to visit today would be very busy and we were not wrong but before the crowds arrived we managed to find a couple of Tenerife Blue Chaffinch (Pinzón Azul de Tenerife / Fringilla teydea) as well as a nice male Canary Islands Chaffinch (Pinzón de Canarias / Fringilla canariensis), African Blue Tit (Cyanistes Teneriffae / Herrerillo canario), Western Canary Islands Goldcrest (Reyezuelo Sencillo / Regulus regulus ellenthalerae), Common Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula cabrerae), Canary Island Great Spotted Woodpecker (Pico Picapinos / Dendrocopos major canariensis) and Atlantic Canary (Serin Canario / Serinus canaria).

Canary Island Great Spotted Woodpecker (Pico Picapinos / Dendrocopos major canariensis).

Deb looking happy with her choice of Coffee.

Looking South over the Laural Forest for the Pigeons.

Looking North from Pico del Inglés.

Building clouds out to the South.

The people started to arrive so we decided to head for a spot in the north of the Island called Pico del Inglés, on the way we stopped at Cafetería Los Candiles for coffee, we arrived at the Miridor which was busy but we dropped lucky and got parked straight away and then spent the best part of 3 hours looking for the two endemic Pigeon species on the Island, we got good views of the smart Bolle's Pigeon (Paloma Turqué / Columba bollii) one of which sat and feed in a mid distance tree.

Bolle's Pigeon (Paloma Turqué / Columba bollii).

We also got distant flight views of several Laurel Pigeon (Paloma rabiche / Columba junoniae) as well but none came close enough to get a photo, in the same area we had Plain Swift (Vencejo Unicolor / Apus unicolor), Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo insularum), Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus canariensis), African Blue Tit, Canary Island Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Canario / Phylloscopus canariensis), Tenerife Robin (Erithacus superbus), Common Blackbird, Canary Islands Chaffinch, Canary Speckled Wood (Pararge xiphioides), Canary Blue (Cyclyrius webbianus), Small White (Pieris rapae), Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) and Tenerife Lizard (Gallotia galloti).

Tenerife Robin (Erithacus superbus).

Canary Islands Chaffinch (Pinzón de Canarias / Fringilla canariensis).

Canary Speckled Wood (Pararge xiphioides).

Canary Blue (Cyclyrius webbianus).

Tenerife Lizard (Gallotia galloti).

We returned to the car and headed further along the road and when we reached the Mirador del Cruce we took the TF 12 and ended up at a dead end car park but this worked out OK as we needed a coffee and nearby was Casa José Cañón, we also sampled his cheese which was pleasant before making a run for the car as the heavens had open and it was absolutely throwing it down.

Near Casa José Cañón.

On the drive to and from the bar we saw several roadside plants which included Pericallis echinata, Azores Buttercup (Ranunculus cortusifolius), a Marguerite species Argyranthemum adauctum, Sonchus acaulis, Canary Island Foxglove (Digitalis canariensis), Ageratina adenophora, Achyranthes aspera and Bidens pilosa.

Pericallis echinata.

Azores Buttercup (Ranunculus cortusifolius).

Argyranthemum adauctum.

Canary Island Foxglove (Digitalis canariensis).

Ageratina adenophora.

Achyranthes aspera.

Bidens pilosa.

We started to make our way back down the hill but as it was quiet early so we went to another site called where we parked at Monte Mesas, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and walked the terraced gardens finding Berthelot's Pipit (Bisbita Caminero / Anthus berthelotii), Barbary Partridge (Perdiz Moruna / Alectoris barbara), Canary Island Chiffchaff, Atlantic Canary, Common Kestrel, African Grass Blue (Zizeeria knysna), Bath (Pontia daplidice) and Small White and Tenerife Lizard (Gallotia galloti).