Tenerife Birding Trip Report - Day 1 (Tuesday 18th April 2017)

Tenerife, the largest and most well-visited location in the Canary Islands archipelago, enjoying both the scorching West-African climate and the well-developed tourism infrastructure of mainland Europe. 

A rugged but well-vegetated volcanic landmass consisting of two very different northern and southern climates, this famous holiday destination also boasts a series of specialised island endemic bird species along with an impressive list of interesting flora and fauna. Having visited Fuerteventura the previous autumn for the arid desert loving specialities, the following spring saw us complete the Canary Islands trip double in an effort to catch up with the montane and laurel forest specialists that make Tenerife their home. 

Housekeeping

Our trip to Tenerife involved travelling around both the northern and southern sections of the island, incorporating a range of habitats including Mount Teide, Mirador de La Grimona, Barranco de Ruiz, Charco del Viento and Punta de Teno with specific targets of Tenerife Blue Chaffinch, both Laurel and Bolle’s Pigeons, Atlantic Canary, Barbary Falcon, Plain Swift, Barolo Shearwater and Canary Islands Chiffchaff.  

7 lifers and 34 species in total were seen during our 5 days in Tenerife (with us missing out on just the Barolo Shearwaters), covering the 17th April – 22nd April 2017.

Tenerife Blue Chaffinch

We hired a car for the duration of the trip from Hertz and flights were direct return from Manchester to Tenerife South Airport. We had no specific route during our journey, and instead travelled sporadically to a number of sites in both the northern and southern sections of the island. From our base in Playa de las Américas we had easy access to both Los Cristianos and Mount Teide, while expeditions to the more lushly vegetated northern half of the island took no longer than an hour and a half. We stayed in one hotel for the duration of the trip – Hotel Olé Tropical Tenerife – part of a resort complex complete with outside pool.

The panoramic view from our balcony at Hotel Olé Tropical Tenerife

Daily Diary

Landing at Tenerife de Sur on the Monday evening, our late arrival sadly left no time for birding, a calling Canary Islands Chiffchaff outside the hotel the only indications of the upcoming endemic specialities that lay in wait for us.

With blue skies and bright sunshine dawning the next morning, we made a relatively early start getting to our first and main birding site of the trip – the picnic site at Las Lajas on the outskirts of the impressive Mount Teide. Renowned for its showy and approachable population of the endemic Tenerife Blue Chaffinch (Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch has recently been split) Las Lajas is a must for any visiting birders taking a trip to Tenerife. 

The famous Las Lajas picnic site

Making our way up the winding mountain roads on the ascent up Mount Teide, our first stop of interest came in the form of a small flock of Plain Swifts, playing excitedly around a row of stone buildings and swooping at speed up the arid cactus covered slopes. 

Plain Swift - our first of many

Having not seen any Plain Swifts on our visit to Fuerteventura the previous autumn, this was my first encounter with this endemic species of swift, and we spent an enjoyable period of time watching their antics before moving up Mount Teide. 

Originally concerned they may have been hard to come across during our trip, we needn’t have worried as these delightful swifts were dotted across the island in relatively good numbers, some even gracing the skies outside out hotel with their aerial acrobatics. 

The picnic table clearings of Las Lajas that the Blue Chaffinches call home

Arriving at the pine forests of the Las Lajas picnic site clearing, we immediately set to work locating our target Blue Chaffinches, eyes peeled and ears alert for any motion or sounds. Catching sight of a slight movement in one of the low down pine bushes, our first bird of note quietly came in to view – a Canary Islands Kinglet. 

Canary Islands Kinglet.... aka just a Goldcrest nowadays

Identical to our Goldcrests and now having been lumped back together again after previously being split, this was our only bird of the trip, and despite not being an official ‘tick’ it was still nice to admire as it bumbled through the pine needles.

Thankfully, a movement in the tall pines and around one of the picnic tables caught our attention, and we were soon admiring our first Tenerife Blue Chaffinch – a handsome male taking advantage of the small scraps and crumbs left behind by the previous day’s picnickers, soon joined by a slightly drabber female. 

Tenerife Blue Chaffinch! What a stunner

Hopping around the wooden tables, the delicate powder blues and slate grey in the feathers appeared silky smooth in the light, and we watched on in awe as up to four male birds proceeded to parade around us mere feet away hoovering up the titbits – an incredible experience.

Seemingly quite used to visitors and clearly habituated to human presence due to the sheer volume of holidaymakers stopping for a lunch break or snack at Las Lajas, it was refreshingly easy to get some point blank images of this spectacular endemic – no obstructing branches or leaves making for a welcome change. 

The female - much drabber in colouration

For anyone visiting Las Lajas (probably the easiest site for Tenerife Blue Chaffinch on the island) a quick walk around the picnic tables to the right of the car park should soon reveal this Tenerife speciality. 

The picnic tables the Tenerife Blue Chaffinches favour

Another point of note is that we also saw several birds visiting the small stone water taps dotted around the site, with both males and females regularly coming down to drink.

It was surreal to see them so close on the picnic tables - like House Sparrows behave back home

With Tenerife Blue Chaffinch well and truly in the bag, we explored the site a little further, notching up the Tenerife subspecies of Great Spotted Woodpecker on several occasions, perched up on the pine tree trunks and like the Tenerife Blue Chaffinch, bold enough to come down to the water taps for a drink. 

Great Spotted Woodpecker - the Tenerife subspecies Dendrocopos major canariensis

A pair of African Blue Tits called incessantly from the tops of a pine before eventually giving themselves up, while a loud cronking overhead revealed our first Ravens of the trip. 

African Blue Tit - the Tenerife susbpecies Cyanistes teneriffae teneriffae

Raven - Corvus corax canariensis - the Canary Islands subspecies

Sadly, a calling Canary Islands Chiffchaff wasn’t quite so accommodating as the African Blue Tit, and despite careful searching, I still hadn’t clapped eyes on this island chain endemic.  

Taking a wander a bit further down the track resulted in our first Canary Blue butterfly sunning itself on a wall next to a small patch of delicate purple flowers, while several larger yellow butterflies remained unidentifiable as they powered over the taller shrubs. 

Canary Blue Butterfly...not looking particularly blue!

Our first West Canaries Lizards also made an appearance, emerging tentatively from their burrows just long enough to capture a quick photo before they scurried back to safety. 

Male West Canaries Lizard peeking out of the rocks

The females lack the blue colouration of the males

With nothing further of note we headed back to the main picnic site for lunch, our third new bird of the day finally revealing itself as we disturbed a small flock of around 5 Atlantic Canaries that had been feeding busily underneath one of the tables. 

Atlantic Canary - not in a cage!

Waiting quietly amongst the trees they soon returned, chattering noisily between themselves as they hopped along the ground in the search for undiscovered crumbs. 

Nowhere near as approachable as the Tenerife Blue Chaffinches, we found it difficult to get close, the flock flying off to a different area of the picnic site if we got too near, but we eventually secured good views as one particular individual hopped up on to one of the tables to feed. 

After a quick break for lunch (hand feeding BBQ Pringles to a Tenerife Blue Chaffinch at my feet was not something I expected to do during the trip!) we were slightly concerned to find that the car next to ours had been broken in to, the back windows smashed by a large boulder now lying on the back seat and all the valuables inside taken by thieves, much to the distress of the German tourists who had hired it. Luckily we’d not left anything on display, but most definitely a word of warning for anyone visiting – don’t leave anything on show and certainly don’t leave any scopes or cameras in the car. 

The car park at Las Lajas

With a successful trip to Las Lajas under our belt, we proceeded up to the summit of the impressive Mount Teide – the highest point above sea level in the islands of the Atlantic. 

The impressive Mount Teide

An active volcano that last erupted over 100 years ago and now a dedicated UNESCO World Heritage site, the surrounding landscapes of the Teide National Park offered some truly stunning views, and as we approached the summit the slight scent of sulphur filled the air. 

With the birds here few and far between, a tame Berthelot’s Pipit and a Southern Grey Shrike were the only birds of note, while a pair of Kestrels looked on from the thorny shrubs. The views however were spectacular and we drank in the scenery of the island below.

The views from Mount Teide

Deciding not to head up the cable car itself, we enjoyed a quick snack in the café before heading down again, Canary Red Admiral and Green-striped White welcome additions to our butterfly list.

Canary Red Admiral - very similar to our British Red Admiral but differs by being a darker shade of red and by having black patches interspersed among the red upper-wing colour blocks

With the majority of our targets for the day checked off, this just left Canary Islands Chiffchaff (ironic as they are supposed to be everywhere) but the final piece of the jigsaw fell in to place on our descent near La Escalana when a roadside stop to admire the 30 strong flock of Plain Swifts dashing across the road soon has us searching the bushes to locate a very close-by calling Canary Islands Chiffchaff. 

The Canary Islands Chiffchaff roadside

Within moments our luck was in, and we enjoyed point blank views of this tiny warbler just feet away in the adjacent fig tree, almost near enough to reach out and touch. 

Canary Islands Chiffchaff

Joined by a second individual, the pair called continuously, providing a great opportunity to take note of the subtle differences in call from our own Common Chiffchaff back home, being much more varied and rich than the two toned “chiff” “chaff” of our British birds. 

Bath White - another new butterfly for our list

With the day a success and our main target of Tenerife Blue Chaffinch safely in the bag, we headed back to the hotel happy, tucking in to pizzas at the nearby pizzeria (slightly disappointing and a tad soggy!) ready for our next day tracking down the elusive Tenerife speciality pigeons of Laurel and Bolle’s.