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).

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

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).

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

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

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

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 Speckled Wood (Pararge xiphioides).

Canary Blue (Cyclyrius webbianus).

Canary Blue (Cyclyrius webbianus).

Tenerife Lizard (Gallotia galloti).

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).

Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus canariensis).

Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus canariensis).

Small White (Pieris rapae).

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

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

African Grass Blue (Zizeeria knysna).

Small White (Pieris rapae).

Bath White (Pontia daplidice).

Malaga Airport and Las Canteras in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.

Flying out to the Canarys to start our three Island trip.

Deb and Ian, Day Fifteen.

Ebird List for the Accommodation Window.

 

We started the day by driving down to friends Barbara and Derek's where we dropped the car off and Derek kindly dropped us back to Malaga Airport for our flight out to Tenerife where we were going to spend a few days birding before moving to Gran Canary and finally Fuertevetura.

At Malaga airport ready for the start of the Canary Island Adventure.

The flight was on time and uneventful, we arrived in Tenerife and collected the hire car and headed for our accommodation in Las Canteras via a supermarket.

We arrived and settled in, once we were sorted we spent some time scanning the fields behind the apartment seeing Plain Swift (Vencejo Unicolor / Apus unicolor), Canary Island Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Canario / Phylloscopus canariensis) and Atlantic Canary (Serin Canario / Serinus canaria) all of which were lifers for Deb and Ian and year ticks for me.

We also saw Eurasian Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Yellow-legged Gull (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis), Western Cattle Egret (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis), Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo), Common Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Eurasian Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Curruca capirotada) and Small White (Pieris rapae).

We popped down to the bar near the digs and had a beer but it was closing so we went just up the road to Hamburguesería Isaac where we had a few more beers and some food before turning in early as we wanted to get out and about early tomorrow.

Huétor Fields and Cerro Hacho, Near Huétor Tajar, Granada Province, Spain.

A walk down the Fields and then up on Hacho before packing for tomorrows flight and finally chilling on the Terrace.

Deb and Ian, Day Fourteen.

Ebird List for the Fields.

Ebird List for Cerro Hacho.

 

Little Bustard (Sisón Común / Tetrax tetrax).

We popped down the fields for a walk and I was pleased to see the male Little Bustard (Sisón Común / Tetrax tetrax) was still on site after not seeing him for a few days.

Little Bustard (Sisón Común / Tetrax tetrax).

We also had the pair of Black-winged Kite (Elanio Común / Elanus caeruleus), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Eurasian Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Common Swift (Vencejo Común / Apus apus), Little Owl (Mochuelo Europeo / Athene noctua), Iberian  (Rabilargo Ibérico / Cyanopica cooki) and Eurasian Magpie (Urraca Común / Pica pica), Zitting Cisticola (Cistícola Buitrón / Cisticola juncidis), Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica), Western House Martin (Avión Común Occidental / Delichon urbicum), Cetti's Warbler (Cetia Ruiseñor / Cettia cetti), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Curruca melanocephala), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), Common Nightingale (Ruisenor Común / Luscinia megarhynchos), Common Waxbill (Estrilda Ondulada / Estrilda astrild), European Goldfinch (Jilguero Europeo / Carduelis carduelis), European Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Chloris chloris) and Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui).

Common Swift (Vencejo Común / Apus apus).

Common Swift (Vencejo Común / Apus apus).

We drove up passed the house and on up to Hacho where we again did a walk around part of the lower loop, bird wise we had Red-legged Partridge (Perdiz Roja / Alectoris rufa), Common Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), European Turtle Dove (Tórtola Europea / Streptopelia turtur), Eurasian Golden Oriole (Oropéndola Europea / Oriolus oriolus), Eurasian Blue Tit (Herrerillo Común / Cyanistes caeruleus), Western Bonelli's Warbler (Mosquitero Papialbo / Phylloscopus bonelli), Short-toed Treecreeper (Agateador Europeo / Certhia brachydactyla), Eurasian Wren (Chochin paleártico / Troglodytes troglodytes), Common Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), Common Crossbill (Piquituerto Común / Loxia curvirostra) and European Serin (Serin Verdecillo / Serinus serinus).

Red-legged Partridge (Perdiz Roja / Alectoris rufa).

We also saw Adonis (Lysandra bellargus) x3, Black-eyed (Glaucopsyche melanops) x2 and Panoptes Blue (Pseudophilotes panoptes) x1, Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus) x4, Large White (Pieris brassicae) x1 and Small White (Pieris rapae) x3, Spanish Gatekeeper (Pyronia bathseba) x5, Spanish Festoon (Zerynthia rumina) x2, Pink Butterfly (Orchis papilionacea) and Yellow Bee Orchid (Ophrys lutea) and Spanish Ibex (Cabra montés / Capra pyrenaica hispanica) x5.

Adonis Blue (Lysandra bellargus).

Adonis Blue (Lysandra bellargus).

Adonis Blue (Lysandra bellargus).

Black-eyed Blue (Glaucopsyche melanops).

Panoptes Blue (Pseudophilotes panoptes).

Spanish Gatekeeper (Pyronia bathseba).

Spanish Gatekeeper (Pyronia bathseba).

Spanish Ibex (Cabra montés / Capra pyrenaica hispanica).

On the way back to the house we had a nice Eurasian Hoopoe (Abubilla Común / Upupa epops) sat in an Almond tree whilst we were looking for Little Owls.

Eurasian Hoopoe (Abubilla Común / Upupa epops).

Once home we headed up on to the terrace and had a few drinks, whilst there we saw Eurasian Golden Oriole, Iberian  Magpie, Sardinian Warbler, European Goldfinch, Eurasian Blue Tit and Great Tit (Carbonera Común / Parus major), Common Woodpigeon, European Turtle and Eurasian Collared Dove, Eurasian Hoopoe, Red-rumped (Golondrina Dáurica / Cecropis daurica) and Barn Swallow.