FUERTEVENTURA - 9th December

A little walk round Las Playitas first thing produced the only Tufted Duck for the trip on a pool on a golf course along with a Spoonbill, 2 Common Sandpipers and a Black-winged Stilt while three Trumpeter Finches flew along the seafront, dodging in and out of the joggers.   

A look along the coast at Caleta de Fuste then produced the 10 Spoonbills again with Grey Plover, Whimbrel, Turnstone, Greenshank and Sandwich Terns before we pulled off the road at the airport to get good views of 12 Plain Swifts low over the trees – we’d seen then from the car on several occasions but we just wanted a better look to confirm what they really were.   Another look at the south end of Costa Calma at lunchtime gave increased numbers of c12 Blackcaps, a Garden Warbler, a Yellow-browed Warbler, better views of Red-vented Bulbuls and of course plenty of Hoopoes before driving off west to explore the mountains and west coast.   

A walk along Barranco de Ajui produced several Sardinian Warblers (the only ones of the trip) together with Spectacled Warblers, a few Trumpeter Finches, two pairs of Barbary Partridges and plenty of Southern Grey Shrikes; the mountain roads were then impressive but without many birds except at a layby overlooking Barranco de las Penitas where some very confiding Ravens (slightly smaller and different sounding then ours), Spanish Sparrows and Berthelot’s Pipits literally fed out of our hands.

Ruddy Shelduck

Golf Course

Red-vented Bulbul

Spanish Sparrows

Berthelot's Pipit