Fuerteventura complete species list

	BIRDS
1	Ruddy Shelduck	Tadorna ferruginea
2	Barbary Partridge	Alectoris barbara
3	Great Northern Loon	Gavia immer
4	Little Egret	Egretta garzetta
5	Grey Heron	Ardea cinerea
6	White Stork	Ciconia ciconia
7	Egyptian Vulture	Neophron percnopterus
8	Common Buzzard	Buteo buteo ssp. Insularum
9	Common Kestrel	Falco tinnunculus ssp. Dacotiae
10	Common Moorhen	Gallinula chloropus
11	Houbara Bustard	Chlamydotis undulata
12	Black-winged Stilt	Himantopus himantopus
13	Cream-coloured Courser	Cursorius cursor
14	Little Ringed Plover	Charadrius dubius
15	Common Snipe	Gallinago gallinago
16	Common Sandpiper	Actitis hypoleucos
17	Green Sandpiper	Tringa ochropus
18	Yellow-legged Gull	Larus michahellis
19	Sandwich Tern	Sterna sandvicensis
20	Rock Dove	Columba livia
21	Eurasian Collared Dove	Streptopelia decaocto
22	Laughing Dove	Streptopelia senegalensis
23	Plain Swift	Apus unicolor
24	Lesser Short-toed Lark	Calandrella rufescens
25	Berthelot's Pipit	Anthus berthelotii
26	White Wagtail	Motacilla alba
27	Canary Islands Stonechat	Saxicola dacotiae
28	Ring Ouzel	Turdus torquatus ssp. Alpestris
29	Spectacled Warbler	Sylvia conspicillata
30	Sardinian Warbler	Sylvia melanocephala
31	Common Chiffchaff	Phylloscopus collybita
32	African Blue Tit	Parus teneriffae
33	Great Grey Shrike	Lanius excubitor
34	Northern Raven	Corvus corax
35	Spanish Sparrow	Passer hispaniolensis
36	Common Linnet	Carduelis cannabina
37	Trumpeter Finch	Bucanetes githagineus
	MAMMALS
1	Barbary Ground Squirrel	Atlantoxerus getulus
2	Common Bottlenose Dolphin	Tursiops truncatus
	REPTILES
1	Atlantic Lizard	Gallotia atlantica ssp. mahoratae
	BUTTERFLIES
1	Canary Green-striped White	Euchloe hesperidum
2	Greenish Black-tip	Euchloe charlonia
3	Painted Lady	Vanessa cardui
	DRAGONFLIES
1	Emperor Dragonfly	Anax imperator
	DAMSELFLIES
1	Sahara Bluetail	Ischnura saharensis

Fuertaventura Day 3

For my last morning on the island I decided to dedicate my time to giving the bittern one last shot. I spent a good three hours birding the site from first light, but with no sight or sound of my quarry. The birding continued to be excellent, with fantastic views of Spectacled Warbler and Egyptian Vulture.

I has been birding from first light, when it was cold, but the morning soon warmed up and I decided to return to the car to drop off my excess clothing. On my way back I passed a couple of birders heading down to look for the bittern. Knowing I wouldn’t be alone I decided to sack off the bittern once and for all, and spent my last remaining hour on the beach north of the airport.

-African Blue Tit

-Egyptian Vulture

-White Stork

-Spanish Sparrow

The beached looked ideal for gaining a few more trip ticks, my big hope being Kentish Plover or something of that ilk. However, when scanning the bay I picked up a Great Northern Diver fishing not too far offshore. This was not an expected species at all, and a quick check of eBird supported my hunch that this might be quite rare. As such I took some BOC photos and put them on the ‘Rare birds of the Canary Islands’ Facebook group. It wasn’t until an hour later, when I was in the airport that the message was received and I was informed that this was the first for the Fuerteventura, the sixth for the Canary Islands. There had been one off another island during the winter, so presumably this was that bird. I was pretty thrilled with this. The beach also had a mammal trip tick in Bottlenose Dolphin and a few Sandwich Terns to round of a brilliant trip. 

-Great Northern Diver

-Bottlenose Dolphin

Species List:

Barranco de Rio Cabras: Ruddy Shelduck, Feral Pigeon, Eurasian Collared Dove, Laughing Dove, Common Moorhen, Black-winged Stilt, Little Ringed Plover, Common Snipe, Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Yellow-legged Gull, White Stork, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Egyptian Vulture, Common Buzzard, Eurasian Hoopoe, Great Grey Shrike, Northern Raven, African Blue Tit, Spectacled Warbler, Canary Islands Stonechat, Spanish Sparrow, White Wagtail, Berthelot's Pipit, Trumpeter Finch, Common Linnet, Barbary Ground Squirrel, Emperor Dragonfly, 

Playa Blanca: Feral Pigeon, Yellow-legged Gull, Sandwich Tern, Great Northern Diver, Little Egret, Bottlenose Dolphin,  

Fuertaventura Day 2

I spent the night sleeping on the Tindaya Plain, an open area of habitat on the North-West of the island. Here was the best place to find Houbara Bustard, so I figured by sleeping there I would already be in position for first light.

When daylight final arose, it was a case of driving around a number of dirt tracks and scanning the environment. The first bustard I was extremely close to the car, having clearly just crossed the road. Sadly, the light was a little lacking for photos, but it was still awesome to see the bird so close. I subsequently saw another three individuals but all were much further away from the road.

Other birdlife was pretty cool as well. I got good views of a number of Lesser Short-toed Larks but only had brief views of a single Cream-coloured Courser, a species which I had really wanted to see well and photograph. Still, I had finished off at the site by late morning so decided to head back to the river bed where the bittern was supposed to be

-Houbara Bustard

-Common Kestrel (Canary Islands Subspecies)

However, after an hour on site, in the heat of the day, I reached the conclusion that I was wasting my time with this bird, it not being seen now for over two weeks. As a result, I made the call to try a different site on the western side of the island where I hoped I might be lucky and find the last of my targets; Barbary Partridge.

The dried-out reservoir that I visited had a lot of nice vegetation, but sadly quite a few walkers, not ideal for partridges. Still, after an hour walking through the valley I flushed three Partridges from the dry river bed. I followed them, and on finding where they landed got exceptional views of the birds feeding. The site was also brilliant for Sardinian Warblers, of which there were many, and I also encountered a stunning alpestris Ring Ouzel, rounding off a brilliant days birding. 

-Fuerteventura Stonechat

-Atlantic Lizard

-Trumpeter Finch

-Canary Islands Green-striped White

-Barbary Partridge

-Sardinian Warbler

-alpestris Ring Ouzel

Species List:

Tindaya Plains: Ruddy Shelduck, Feral Pigeon, Eurasian Collared Dove, Laughing Dove, Houbara Bustard, Cream-colored Courser, Yellow-legged Gull, Eurasian Hoopoe, Common Kestrel, Great Grey Shrike, Northern Raven, Lesser Short-toed Lark, Spectacled Warbler, Spanish Sparrow, Berthelot's Pipit, Trumpeter Finch,

Barranco del Rio Cabras: Ruddy Shelduck, Feral Pigeon, Eurasian Collared Dove, Laughing Dove, Common Moorhen, Black-winged Stilt, Little Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Yellow-legged Gull, Little Egret, Egyptian Vulture, Common Buzzard, Eurasian Hoopoe, Northern Raven, African Blue Tit, Lesser Short-toed Lark, Canary Islands Stonechat, Spanish Sparrow, White Wagtail, Berthelot's Pipit, Trumpeter Finch, Barbary Ground Squirrel, Painted Lady, Emperor Dragonfly, Sahara Bluetail, 

Vega de Rio Palmas: Ruddy Shelduck, Barbary Partridge, Feral Pigeon, Eurasian Collared Dove, Laughing Dove, Common Moorhen, Common Buzzard, Northern Raven, African Blue Tit, Common Chiffchaff, Sardinian Warbler, Ring Ouzel, Canary Islands Stonechat, Spanish Sparrow, Trumpeter Finch, Barbary Ground Squirrel, Canary Islands Green-striped White, Greenish Black-tip,

Fuertaventura day 1

I decided to finally make a move for the long staying Dwarf Bittern on Fuerteventura, and mop up a few more ticks whilst I was out there. I booked myself flights that would give me an afternoon, a full day and a morning to hopefully see the bird, whilst providing me with the time to make sure I saw everything else. I hired a small car that would be my base of operations, and where I would sleep.

I got off the plane from Manchester about midday and once I had retrieved my car and grabbed some food I went straight to the river valley where the Bittern had been inhabiting. Unfortunately, in the time since I had booked my flights, the bird had disappeared and I was not confident in my chances of seeing the bird. This is indeed how it transpired, that despite six hours working the river valley, staying until it was almost dark, I failed to find the bird.

That said the birding was brilliant with two new birds for me; Fuerteventura Stonechat and African Blue Tit. Other nice species included Berthelot’s Pipit, Trumpeter Finch and Egyptian Vulture. It was a fantastic afternoons birding, despite the lack of my number one target.

-Fuertaventura Stonechat

-African Blue Tit

-Trumpeter Finch

-Berthelot's Pipit

-Common Buzzard (Canary Islands form)

-Black-winged Stilt & Ruddy Shelduck

-Barbary Ground Squirrel

Species List: 

Barranco del Rio Cabras: Ruddy Shelduck, Feral Pigeon, Eurasian Collared Dove, Laughing Dove, Plain Swift, Common Moorhen, Black-winged Stilt, Little Ringed Plover, Common Snipe, Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Yellow-legged Gull, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Egyptian Vulture, Common Buzzard, Eurasian Hoopoe, Common Kestrel, Great Grey Shrike, Northern Raven, African Blue Tit, Spectacled Warbler, Canary Islands Stonechat, Spanish Sparrow, White Wagtail, Berthelot's Pipit, Trumpeter Finch, Barbary Ground Squirrel, 

Prestwick Carr twitching Eastern Yellow Wagtail

It was something of a detour from my commute to work, but I thought I would spent the day with the Eastern Yellow Wagtail in Northumberland. It added an extra hour and a half onto my journey but to otherwise see the bird would involve a six hour round trip, so I decided that it would be worth it for what was a world tick
I arrived on site late morning in sunny conditions but with a piercing cold wind. The field where the bird had been present was full of pied wagtails but scanning through them yeilded nothing. It was only when I took my eyes off my scope that I could see the bird pottering about basically at my feet. This was its pattern of behaviour for the next hour, although it did also spend some time at the back of the field out of sight.
As a consquence of the wind I only heard the bird call a handful of times, but it was certainly distinctive to Western Yellow Wagtails that I was familiar with. The plumage was more buff than the grey I was expecting and there was a hint of yellow coming through between the legs of the bird. It was certainly a rather striking individual.

-Eastern Yellow Wagtail

Species List:
Prestwick Carr: Common Wood Pigeon, Northern Lapwing, Black-headed Gull, Western Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Eurasian Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Goldcrest, Eurasian Wren, Common Starling, Common Blackbird, European Robin, Eastern Yellow Wagtail, White Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Common Chaffinch,

Settle twitching Chough

Since it was on my way to work, it would have been rude to not set off a couple of hours early and try to see the Choughs that had made their home above Settle. Despite the poor weather conditions when I arrived, I managed to find one of the birds feeding in the middle of the short grass path below Victoria Cave. I watched the bird for some time before it flew off up into the mist. I did not see it or the other bird again during my stay. It is a shame the conditions were so poor, as I would have been able to get some awesome photos.

-Red-billed Chough

Species List:
Settle: Red-billed Chough, Carrion Crow, Eurasian Wren,