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Sand Castles , Sunbeds and Birding - Fuertaventura 2004
Mark Reeder

We booked our trip with First Choice holidays and stayed at the Barcello Club el Castillo in Caleta de Fuste (known locally as el Castillo). The accommodation was excellent and positioned next to the beach, which was ideal for those vital Brownie point earning sand castle building sessions.

Wednesday 24th December.

Arrived at Caleta de Fuste at 13:00hrs, after a four hour flight from East Midlands Airport. Didn’t manage any birding during the first day, put it quickly became apparent that the only birds that were common in the immediate area were Collared Doves and Spanish Sparrows.

Thursday 25th December.

Got up early (by my standards) at 07:30 and set off walking to a promising looking bit of scrub on the opposite side of the bay. Generally a pretty bird-less area, with the exception of a small party of Trumpeter Finches, my first lifer of the trip. Also noted were a few large pink grasshopper things, which I later discovered were the start of a large locust invasion. On the way back I decided to check the now exposed rock pools around the bay as I could see several small waders running around. A good move as the following were noted:
33 Kentish Plover, 40+ Ringed Plover, 4 Grey Plover, 6 Sanderling, 2 Whimbrel,
6 Turnstone, 2 Dunlin, Redshank, Common Sandpiper, Heron, Little Egret and several atlantic Yellow-legged Gulls.
Later in the day whilst digging a rather splendid moat I noted a couple of Sandwich Terns at the edge of the beach. Spent the rest of the day on the beach, earning those Brownie points.

Friday 26th December.

Again checked the immediate area first thing. Almost the same species and numbers noted around the bay, though the Trumpeter Finches had increased to c.35. The only new bird there was a first-winter Black-headed Gull.
At 10:00hrs Holiday Autos delivered the hire car (A Renault Clio, £80 for 4 days) as promised. With our new ability to roam we set off to have a look at the sand dunes near Correljo. Apart from lots of naked ‘internationals’ not much was noted though something running around in the scrub proved to be my first ever Berthelot’s Pipit. Also there my first Southern Grey Shrike of the trip, feasting on the now plentiful supply of locusts.
After a very disappointing look at Correljo we headed for the hills and at last some of the more mouthwatering birds of Fuerteventura.

At this point I would recommend anyone visiting this area follows the sites in Tony Clarke and David Collins’s guide a birdwatchers guide to the Canary Islands. The maps in this guide are absolutely spot on and very easy to follow (I never got lost once).

A quick stop at the side of the road near to the village of Caldereta produced 6 Black-bellied Sandgrouse flying over the road and a very brief Cream-coloured Courser. After scoping the area, and seeing nothing else of note, we set off towards La Olivia. My target species here was Houbara and I was not disappointed. After about thirty minutes of scanning the plain beyond Rosa de los Negrines (page 67 in Clarke and Collins) and dodging heavy Lorries and very strong winds I had had enough. I started the car put it into reverse and stopped, about 100yds to my left was a fine adult Houbara. I watched it feeding on locusts for several minutes and then decided to risk getting the camera out of the boot for a spot of digiscoping. I really thought that the Bustard would not tolerate this but was astonished when it just looked straight at me and continued to feed on the bumper harvest. After ten minutes of my daughter and I admiring it discreetly from the side of the car, it wandered over the ridge and out of site. Well chuffed with excellent views we headed back to Caleta for dinner.

[HOUBARA PIC]

Saturday 27th December.

The Barranco de la Torre is only a few miles out of Caleta and a real must for anyone visiting the Island. This was my favourite site and I visited it on three occasions. The target species here was Fuerteventuran Chat. After parking by the no entry sign at the end of the cement works track I scrambled down the cliff to the dry scrub and tamarisk area. After just five minutes I located my first ever pair of Fuerteventuran Chats. Both birds showed very well coming within just twelve feet or so at times. A total of five pairs were noted at this site. With the exception of a male at another site this was the only site that produced this endemic species. A walk up the Barrancos produced 2 Ruddy Shelduck (which left very noisily to the north), Spectacled Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Berthelot’s Pipit, Common Sandpiper, Southern Grey Shrike, Trumpeter Finch and a party of six Barbary Partridge along the left-hand ridge, another lifer and the only site where I recorded this species.

[SMALL LAKE PIC]

After returning for breakfast we set off for the Jandia peninsular at the southern end of the island. Like our visit to Correljo I was not impressed and found the site of naked 60+ year old ‘internationals’ very scary. The only species noted here was Monk Parakeet with at least thirty individuals along the front of Morro Jable.
We called in at a small beach near Costa Calma and had a very
confiding Southern Grey Shrike and a very dubious Yellow-billed Stork, which was walking around the car park.
It was now about 16:00hrs and a visit to the plains between Costa Calma and La Pared seemed appropriate. We drove about 2 miles from the road and I began to scan the immediate area. Almost immediately I located an adult just in front of me even closer than the previous day’s bird. This one also was completely unfazed by me and stood there preening and feeding on locusts. Unfortunately a rather noisy party of German hikers was heading towards me and the Bustard, so a got a few photos before the bird and another one walked straight past me away from the oblivious Germans.
I walked back to the car muttering obscenities under my breath and scanned the plain toward La Pared. This produced a further four Houbaras, six Black-bellied Sandgrouse and a Cream-coloured Courser. After watching these excellent birds for almost an hour we headed back to Caleta.

[SOUTHERN GREY SHRIKE PIC]

Sunday 28th December.

Another visit to the Barranco de la Torre produced at least eight Chats including one pair which showed to a ridiculous five feet at times. The Ruddy Shelducks flew in and straight back out and a Purple Heron was flushed from one of the barrancos pools. Also seen were S G Shrike, 3 Snipe, Jack Snipe, Green Sandpiper, Little Egret and Song Thrush.
After breakfast we headed for the historical village of Bentancuria (on a non birding trip).

[FUERTAVENTURA CHAT PIC]

The only birds noted around the village were Common Buzzard, Kestrel, Sardinian Warbler and several Kestrels.
After returning to Caleta and dropping my wife and daughter at the pool I headed for the Los Molinos Reservoir. I had looked forward to visiting this site as it is highly recommended in Clarke and Collins. Unfortunately I was a little disappointed. The most notable species here was a flock of 32 Ruddy Shelducks loafing on the half dried basin and 24 Coots. Other species recorded were: Spotted Redshank, 4 Greenshank, 2 Green Sandpiper, 12 Little Ringed Plover, Little Stint, Peregrine/Barbary Falcon (2 distant to positively i.d) and 4 very brief Lesser short-toed Larks which were just tickable. The only other F’ Chat was seen here around the edge of the Res’. A scan of the adjacent plains revealed nothing at all.

Monday 29th December.

I arrived at Catalina Garcia at dawn and had to wait for the light to improve before I dare take my car down the very iffy track. A scan around the reservoir revealed: Spotted Crake, 4 Moorhen, 12 Coot, 5 Little Egret, 2 Ruddy Shelduck, 2 Teal, Spotted Redshank, Little Ringed Plover, Swallow and a juv Peregrine. The drive back down the track was interesting as I briefly got the car stuck in a rut.
It was now raining very heavily so I headed back for breakfast. With it still raining after breakfast we drove to La Olivia, as my wife thought the village looked interesting. The village was very boring but 4 Linnets by the roadside were the only ones of the trip.
After again returning my wife and daughter to the pool I decided to check Catalina Garcia again. The return visit (I walked down the track this time) was considerably poorer and the only birds of note were c100 yellow-legged Gulls, 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 5 Ravens.
I called in at my favourite site, Barranco de la Torre on the way back and was again not disappointed. A Common Buzzard greeted me before it headed up the barranco and four Chats were around the wind pump. New additions to the trip list here were a male Redstart and a Black-winged Stilt which posed nicely for the camera.

Tuesday 30th December.

I decided to have a lie in this morning and spent the morning on the beach building sand castles and paddling in the sea!
By midday I was becoming restless and sought permission to abscond. Permission granted headed for Catalina Garcia again. Much the same as the previous afternoon but with the addition of a circling Yellow-billed Stork. Had I not seen what was presumably the same bird a couple of days ago this one might have made it onto the list!!

[TRUMPETER FINCH PIC]

The next site was Las Penitas near Betancuria. This was a very disappointing waste of an hour walk down a very windy, bird less barranco. The reservoir at the end was bone dry and looked like it hadn’t seen water for many months. With only a couple of hour’s day light left I decided to finish off at Las Molinos and hoped that it might be an improvement on the previous day. It was, as I entered the track by the goat farm a large party of Trumpeter Finches and Lesser Short-toed Larks were feeding on the bare
ground allowing superb close views and a great chance for a bit of digiscoping. The reservoir was again poor though the Ruddy Shelduck flock had increased to 52.

Wednesday 4th December.

No birding today as we were heading back home. However a delayed flight produced 4 Plain Swifts around the terminal building the only ones of the trip. A sixth sense had told me that this would happen so I was prepared with the binoculars close at hand.
A nice end to a successful trip with all the target species found, though just 54 species were recorded. Incidentally I never saw another birder during my stay which made a nice change in that I found everything myself and never got gripped off.

All the photos, with the exception of the Costa Calma Bustard and the S G Shrike, were taken with the Kyocera SL400 the others were with Coolpix 995.

[Berthelot’s Pipit pic] [Houbara Bustard pic2]

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