We got our two target birds with no problems, with some good gen from Alan Gilbertson, we had views of Fuerteventura chat within an hour of getting off the plane!
male Fuerteventura stonechat
female gathering nesting material
Our second target took a bit more getting, ignoring the rules of the hire car company we took out Renault Kangoo for a bit off-roading on the planes, picking up some other good desert species we eventually got good views of three bustards, but no display.
Houbara bustard through the heat-haze on the planes near Pared
Other desert species
Stone Curlew
Black-bellied sandgrouse - we saw these displaying
Cream-coloured courser - a family party with tiny balls of fluff young was the highlight of the trip
This trumpeter finch was gathering nesting material from a dead goat
Spectacled warblers were common in the barrancas
The male spanish sparrows were really smart
Berthelot's pipits were everywhere
Other good birds included greater flamingo, southern grey shrikes, sardinian warbler, cory's shearwater and canary as well as the local race of blue tit which is quite striking. I'll produce a trip report when I get the time.
Hopefully the GW teal will still be around at the weekend...
3 comments:
Nice trip Ipin. Some tricky looking passerines to id there :-).
Hope you find the Green winged Teal mate !
6 new species for me in that lot Iain, canny trip...
Nice reading. Was the Thick-knee also breeding?
I am contacting you by e-mail. :)
Cheers, Szimi
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