Tenerife Birding Trip Report - Day 2 (Wednesday 19th April 2017)

Arising early for our second day in Tenerife, we ascended once again to higher altitudes, this time in search of the two speciality pigeons that reside on the island – Bolle’s and Laurel. Tricky to connect with if you don’t have the right site information, we headed straight to the best location on the entire island for Laurel Pigeon and a place almost guaranteed to score a sighting – Mirador de La Grimona on the north coast. Quite unassuming if not in the know, this roadside location is THE place to connect with both Laurel and Bolle’s pigeons, with the birds flying across the mountainside on regular occasions throughout the day. 

The best slope on the island to look for the endemic Laurel and Bolle's pigeons

An hour away from our hotel in the south, the clouds and mist soon appeared as we headed higher up in to the mountains, leaving behind the sparkling sunshine as our car slowly became enveloped in fine fog, the only bird of note being a fleeting glimpse of a female Chaffinch (the North African subspecies) as it flew out of the path of our oncoming vehicle.  

Mist - hindering our vision over the edge of the road to just a few metres

Arriving at the roadside pull in opposite the Mirador de La Grimona viewpoint, it was merely a case of sitting and waiting for our pigeon targets to appear. Several Canary Islands Chiffchaffs and African Blue Tits called from the surrounding trees to keep us entertained, while a small handful of Atlantic Canaries chattered away as they fluttered from shrub to shrub. 

Looking up at the cliffs of Mirador de La Grimona

Keeping an eye on the cliffs, several Feral Pigeons swirling around the rocks got our pulses racing for a moment, and it was only a few minutes later that Alex called that he’d had a possible Bolle’s fly out from one of the trees. Not 100% sure if it definitely was one, we scanned the cliffs in the hope that there was more than one bird, and sure enough, the slightest of movements in the scope soon revealed itself to be a fine Bolle’s Pigeon - extremely well hidden sat amongst the branches and luckily showing well enough and at an angle where the diagnostic tail patterns were clearly visible.

Bolle's Pigeon - note the thick black band on the tail

Woodpigeon-like in coloration and sporting a three striped dark tail with a characteristic thick light grey band in the centre, this was in complete contrast to the all-white tail of a Laurel Pigeon, and we had good scope views of what actually proved to be the rarer of the two species as it sat unobtrusively on the slopes. 

Watching the Bolle’s until it eventually flew off and out of sight, we kept a lookout up the mountain, a further movement on the cliffs soon catching our eye as several all dark shapes powered in to view before disappearing in to the trees – surely Laurel Pigeons! After a few minutes wait our suspicions were proved correct as a second wave of birds broke in to the open – their all dark bodies and diagnostic thick white tails clear to see before these too disappeared out of view over the ridge. It was only a matter of time before a Laurel Pigeon landed in view however, and sure enough, after around ten minutes or so one of the birds ungainly touched down on a precariously thin twig at the top of a shrub and allowed for some very distant phonescoped record shots. 

Laurel Pigeon - the white tail and dark body was obvious

Enabling us to get a good look as it wobbled to and fro on a branch that was clearly not quite sturdy enough to support its hefty weight for too long, the large all white tail was especially clear even at long range, while the dark, almost black tones of the body were a much warmer and deeper shade than the Bolle’s Feral/Woodpigeon colouration. 

With more Laurel Pigeons perching throughout the morning and several others flying through in small groups, we eventually had up to 10 individuals, possibly more – it was impossible to tell in some cases if it was just the same group of birds going back and to. As expected, the Bolle’s proved much harder to find, and it was extremely fortunate that we had connected with the single bird earlier on and what proved to be our only bird of the entire trip. 

The Canary Islands subspecies of Buzzard- Buteo buteo ssp. insularum

With several more Plain Swifts soaring over the cliffs beside the roadside, along with a female Kestrel that made us look twice for the features of Barbary Falcon, a single Cory’s Shearwater powering east during a brief spell of seawatching was the only other bird of note, and having cleaned up on both our endemic pigeons in just over an hour, we headed over to our next site of Punta del Fraile and Punta de Teno in the hopes of catching up with our final ‘realistic’ target of the trip – Barbary Falcon. Having missed these African falcons during our trip to Fuerteventura 6 months earlier, Tenerife offered a second chance to catch up with these impressive birds, and with e-bird indicating they were actually much more numerous on Tenerife, we were relatively hopeful. 

Sadly, it wasn’t to be however, and despite a lengthy search for the remainder of the afternoon at the apparent favoured spots for Barbary Falcon along the cliff lined road to the lighthouse, it was becoming clear that this particular species was turning in to a bit of a ‘bogey bird’ for us. 

The cliffs at the end of Punta de Teno

Despite the lack of our sought after falcon however, we nevertheless spent an enjoyable lunch feeding the resident population of West Canaries Lizards that make Punta de Teno their home, watching on as dozens of these impressive reptiles scurried over to each pringle morsel we dropped over the wall to them.

West Canaries Lizard

The lizards seemed to have a real appetite for BBQ Pringles... who knew!

With a supporting cast consisting of the usual suspects – Canary Islands Chiffchaff, Atlantic Canary, Plain Swift and Berthelot’s Pipit were all in attendance – we also caught up with our first Sardinian Warbler of the trip, an impressive male foraging in a low down coastal shrub, red eye blazing out against the soot grey plumage.

Cutting our losses with the non-existent Barbary Falcons and with large drops of rain now starting to coat our windscreen, we decided to call it a day, a picturesque and scenic drive back down to the hotel along the Masca mountain trail creating plenty of narrow hairpin bends that Alex had to expertly manoeuvre around. Several Turtle Doves perched on the wires in the mountain towns were a reminder of how times once were back in Britain, while the ever abundant Canary Islands Chiffchaffs called non-stop from the lush vegetation in the higher altitudes. 

Turtle Dove - sadly a rare sight now back in the UK

With a delicious evening meal at the local Chinese restaurant finishing the day nicely, we were able to reflect on another successful day on the island, both our target pigeons in the bag and ready for a fresh attack on finding our elusive Barbary Falcons the next day.

Mirador de La Grimona – parking and access

Mirador de La Grimona and the nearby Cepsa petrol station are two of the best spots on Tenerife to look for Laurel Pigeons (and in smaller numbers Bolle’s). Parking up at the layby at the Grimona and merely looking up across the road at the slopes should result in flybys of several Laurel Pigeons as they move across the mountainside. 

Stopping off for petrol at the Cepsa Petrol Station a few hundred yards west can also yield large numbers of Laurel Pigeons moving across the valley, with several birds often seen perching in the small shrubs. Indeed we had around 15 birds here in just a short ten minute period in the middle of the day. 

The cliffs opposite the Cepsa Petrol station

Parking at the Mirador de La Grimona consists of a small roadside lay-by off the TF-5 (just before the tunnel if heading from the west) with a larger area of gravel to view from. Be careful if driving in from the west as the TF-5 is a fast paced road and a left turn in to the layby may not be possible if traffic is busy. Indeed, we carried on to the outskirts of Los Realejos to turn around and headed back in from the east. 

The parking layby at Mirador de La Grimona

The post code for the viewpoint layby is TF-5, 3, 38414 Los Realejos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain while the Cepsa petrol station is at Paraje El Terrero, s/n, 38410 Los Realejos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain (only accessible if travelling from the east). A simple search in Google Maps for Mirador de La Grimona will produce the exact location.