Fuerteventura in February

We spent the third week of February in the sunshine of Fuerteventura, nice to get some winter warmth, makes you think of spring !!

We stayed at the Tui Palace in Jandia, which was situated at the farthest southerly point of the island and inhabited mostly by middle aged Germans who rejoiced in their total nudity !!!!

Walking into the Atlantic rollers in February wearing just a hat, must, I'm sure, be very bracing !!!!

No, we didn't try it. British reserve, don't you know.

On our first walk around the resort we found Collared Dove, Raven, Yellow Legged Gull, Spanish Sparrow and Berthelot's Pipit. 



Raven



Yellow Legged Gull



Berthelot's Pipit



Next morning, watching the sea from the balcony, I had a pod of about a dozen Dolphins, although they were quuite far out, and the only ones I saw in the week. 

Also 18 Cattle Egrets roosting on a bare hillside opposite the entrance to the hotel, they were eventually accompanied by 3 Grey Heron. They seemed to roost there every day and commute to the area of wetland behind the beach.

We hired a car for the middle three days to get about and see more of the island. A Nissan Micra with no hubcaps ?? Why no hubcaps ?? None of the hire cars on the island seemed to have any hubcaps ???

Anyway, first stop, the legendary La Pared plains which hold Houbara Bustard and Cream Coloured Couser, but not today !! We did however get a nice Hoopoe whilst we were there.

We continued up the mountainous west coast road to Betancuria for lunch. There we had African Blue Tit as we ate our tapas.

Next stop Los Molinos, a dry river valley which has been dammed to save whatever little rain falls in a reservoir. Here we met a couple of birders from Switzerland, and teamed up to scope the area. 

Ruddy Shelduck were plentiful here and breeding with half a dozen ducklings. Waders included Greenshank, Spotted Redshank, Kentish Plover, Black Winged Stilt and Common Sandpiper, all ably identified in French, German, Latin and English !!

When we went back to the car, we met an English birder who'd seen 6 Bustards at El Cotilla and told us of Fuerteventura Chat further down the valley by the beach. So we went to find it, and we had both male and female at exactly the spot he'd suggested, another lifer !!

Day 2 with the car, again we headed north, well we had to, 'cos there was only sea south !!

We went all the way to El Cotilla on the north coast, spent a futile hour looking for Bustards then another hour on the beach by the lighthouse with the Atlantic rollers booming in.

The rocky beach here had Sanderling, Kentish and Ringed Plover, Wimbrel, Little Egret and one Grey Plover.

Along the coast to have a look at Corallejo, like Blackpool with sun, so we didn't stay there too long !!

Day 3. I decided, if I was going to see the Bustard, I'd have to do La Pared at dawn. I saw on my phone that sunrise was at 7.30, it took half an hour to get there, I assumed daylight would come up about an hour before sunrise, so I was on site at 6.30 alone, very quite, and very spooky alone in the desert. Light didn't arrive until 7.15 so I had the best part of an hour sitting in the dark, the stars where very bright and numerous with no light pollution, beautiful. About 7 another 4 or 5 birders arrived, so I knew I was in the correct place, however, no Bustards. A distant Cream Coloured Courser and Short Toed Lark were my best two along with the ever present Berthelot's Pipit.

Later, after breakfast I took Jean back to see if we could get better views of the Courser, and we did, getting close enough for some photos. 





Cream Coloured Courser





Short Toed Lark


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With no car now we had to wander the resort, but added the two parrots, Monk's and Ring Necked Parakeets, another lifer.



Monk's Parakeet



Ring Necked Parakeet



Ground squirrels were quite tame everywhere, coming to take food from the hand in some cases, and we came across a Jack Rabbit in the wetland behind the beach, like a cross between our rabbit and hare.



Ground Squirrel



Jack Rabbit



In the same wetland area, which was bone dry, called El Mattoral, I think, was Southern Grey Shrike and Spectacled Warbler. My photo of the warbler is probably the best I've taken !!



Southern Grey Shrike



Sectacled Warbler in motion



A lovely holiday, good to get some winter warmth and some interesting birds, but hard work at times, some of the tracks are quite challenging for a Micra !!

Might try Lanzarote next time for another go at the Bustards,got to leave something to go back for !!