Birdwatching Trip Report from Fuerteventura

After a pleasant flight on Thomson we drove to Caleta de Fuste where we stayed in the Amuley Mar 2 complex for 4 weeks. We had a car for all the time and travelled extensively around the island.

It had rained the week before we arrived but had been very dry for months, so dry that many of the sites mentioned in previous reports were bone dry such as Rosa de Catalina Garcia, Barranco de La Torre and La Rosa del Taro. On the other hand sites that had been dismissed as being too disturbed such as the Salinas del Carmen were excellent spots particularly near sunset when all the workers had gone.


Grey-crowned Crane	Monk Parakeet

The island was full of surprises, almost on a daily basis, with oddities such as 5 grey herons on a cliff top south of Morro Jable, 4 Sacred Ibis and 2 Grey Crowned Cranes in the salt marsh between the beach and the promenade at Morro Jable and 5 Whimbrel on the Golf Course next to the petrol station in Caleta, I actually saw them whilst I was filling up and what about Ruddy Shellduck they were seen feeding with goats and hardly ever near any noticeable water.

The coastal area around Caleta de Fuste had many of the species expected such as Ringed Plover, Sanderling, Whimbrel, turnstones, sandwich tern, little ringed plover, Kentish plover, grey plover, gannet, common sandpiper, redshank, dunlin, lesser black-backed gull and yellow legged gull as well as little egret and a solitary spoonbill.

Of the Canarian specialities we managed to see the fuerteventura Chat in several locations, all of which were unexpected, Berthelot’s pipit were common and abundant as were Trumpeter Finch and Lesser short toed Lark. The Cream coloured courser proved elusive but we eventually saw three of them.

The Guirre and the Barbary Partridge were viewed on several occasions but only one view of stone curlew was achieved and no sightings of the Houbara

Some birds turned up almost at every location such as the Southern Grey Shrike and the Hoopoe plus the Spanish Sparrow and Raven.

The island is challenging as a birding location as it is a rugged terrain and can be devoid of birds for hours and then suddenly produce a surprise such as the Egyptian vulture (guirre locally) or a swallow, pallid swift or plain swift can fly past. There are also the occasional birds that are common in the UK but not so on the Island, goldfinch, linnet, thrush, robin and blackcap. The Spectacled Warbler was a great delight as it was seen feeding young in Antigua and again frequently in many locations. Turtle Dove were found in a few locations as were the African Blue Tit.

Los Molinos did have some water in it but only a few birds were on view as there were no reeds and therefore little cover for them the Barranco near the coast had common stonechat, a booted eagle and skylarks.

Sea watching was not very productive, despite observations almost every day, particularly on the east coast in the North part of Caleta we had only one good day when the Cory Shearwaters were easy to see and 2 gannets.

The weather was always warm with several days very windy and three days when it rained, we only received a moderate squall compared to what Madiera received from the same system. The moisture made many parts of the island become green but did not replenish the Rosa de Catalina Garcia or Rosa del Taro. It did however form a large pond in the Barranco De La Torre and we saw 3 Black-winged stilt, little ringed plover and a green sandpiper there.

SYSTEMATIC LIST

Cory’s shearwater	Calonectris diomedea	Morro Jable
Gannet	Morus bassanus	Immature at Caleta, mature Morro Jable
Little egret	Egretta garzetta	Regular along coasts
Grey heron	Ardea cinerea	Coastal areas and even in desert regions
Eurasian spoonbill	Platalea leucordia	Caleta and salinas
Glossy ibis	Plegadis falcinellus	One at MorroJable
Sacred ibis	Threskiornis aethiopicus	4 at Morro Jable
Ruddy shellduck	Tadorna ferruginea	Golf courses and Barranco del torre
Common teal	Anas crecca	4 at Los Molinos
Tufted duck	Anas fuligula	One at Salinas Golf
Marbled duck	Marmaronetta anguistirostris	One at Salinas Golf
Egyptian vulture	Neoprene percnopterus	Several sightings of pairs inland
Common buzzard	Buteo buteo	Regular across island
Common Kestrel	Falco tinnunculus	Regular across island
Lesser Kestrel	Falco naumanni	Pair nesting in the Barranco de Torre
Booted eagle	Hieraaetus pennatus	One at Los Molinos
Barbary partridge	Alectoris barbara	Pairs seen around a dry Catalina Garcia
Eurasian coot	Fulica atra	Los Molinos and Golf courses
Black-winged stilt	Himantopus himantopus	Single at Salinas and 3 in Barranco de torre
Stone curlew	Burhinus oedicnemus	2 just outside Antigua
Cream coloured courser	Cursorious cursor	2 near El Cotillo
Little ringed plover	Charadrius dubious	Only seen by a pool in Barranco de Torre
Ringed plover	Charadrius hiaticula	Frequent on east coast
Kentish plover	Charadrius alexandrinus	A few at Caletta
Grey plover	pluvialis squatarola	Singles at Caletta and Salinas del Carmen
sanderling	Calidris alba	Small flocks on east coast
turnstone	Arenaria interpres	Regular on all coasts
dunlin	Calidris alpina	3 at Salinas del Carmen
Little stint	Calidris minuta	Single at Salinas
Common sandpiper	Actitis hypoleucos	Regular at coastal areas and fresh water
Wood sandpiper	Tringa glareola	Single at Salinas del Carmen
Common redshank	Tringa totanus	Singles at Caletta and Salinas
Common greenshank	Tringa nebularia	2 at Los Molinos
whimbrel	Numenius phaeopus	Regular on all coasts and even golf courses
Yellow-legged gull	Larus cachinaans atlantis	abundant
Lesser black-backed gull	Larus fuscus	abundant
Sandwich tern	Sterna sandvicensis	Regular on coast large roost at Caletta 30+
Rock dove/ feral	Columba livia	abundant
Eurasian collared dove	Streptopelia decaocto	abundant
European turtle dove	Streptopelia turtur	2 at Antigua
Pallid swift	Apus pallidus	Several flew over Triquivijate
Plain swift	Apus unicolor	A few flying over central island
Eurasian hoopoe	Upupa epopos	Widespread seen almost every day
Monk parakeet	Myiopsitta monachus	Large colony 15+ Morro Jable
Common skylark	Alauda arvensis	Several in Los Molinos area
Lesser short-toed lark	Calandrella rufescens	Large flocks in Barranco de Torre
Barn swallow	Hirundo rustica	One or two seen across the island
House martin	Delichon urbica	2 near Antigua
Berthelot’s pipit	Anthus berthelotii	abundant
Meadow pipit	Anthus pratensis	2 near Triquivijate
White wagtail	Motacilla alba	A few at airport and golf courses
European robin	Erithacus rubicula	One at Antigua
Fuerteventuera chat	saxicola dacotiae	Several seen in Barranco del torre and at Gran Tarajal.
Common stonechat	saxicola torquata	Single male at Los Molinos Barranco
Song thrush	Turdus philomelos	4 at Costa Calma
blackcap	Sylvia atricapilla	Several at Costa Calma and Antigua
Sardinian warbler	Sylvia melanocephala	Antigua
Spectacled warbler	Sylvia conspicillata	Common in Barrancos and around Antigua where a pair feeding young seen.
Common chiffchaff	Phylloscopus collybita	Costa Calma
African bluetit	Cyanistes ultramarines degener	Costa Calma and Betancuria
Southern grey shrike	Lanius mreidionalis koenigi	Common in all areas
Common raven	Corvus corax tingitanus	common
Spanish sparrow	Passer hispaniolensis	abundant
Common linnet	Carduelis cannabina harterti	Small flocks at Costa Calma
European goldfinch	Carduelis carduelis meadewaldoi	Several at Costa Calma woodland
Trumpeter finch	Bucanetes githagineus amantum	Abundant around Barrancos and even on the promenade north of Caleta de Fuste

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