What a fun packed day! I headed out to the south of the island today, starting off just after dawn at the 'windfarm' plain west of the road between Costa Calma and La Pared. Turning off the road, I kept left at all junctions until a came across a large hill next to to the road, where I decided to view the habitat from. This, as it turned out was a good decision as from the hill I had great views of a displaying male Houbara Bustard. It was displaying when I got there and then spent the next half hour walking around in the desert in front of me.
Houbara Bustard, La Pared
Houbara Bustard, La Pared
Houbara Bustard, La Pared
Houbara Bustard, La Pared
Houbara Bustard, La Pared
Houbara Bustard, La Pared
Houbara Bustard, La Pared
Houbara Bustard, La Pared
Houbara Bustard, La Pared
Some HD video of the bustards (click the settings wheel and select 1080p HD)
Other birds in the area were a few pairs of Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Lesser Short-toed Lark and Spectacled Warbler. I then headed down to Costa Calma to work the 'woodland' either side of the FV-2. The best birds here were of course Fuerteventura's first ever Olive-backed Pipits, described in this blog entry. Other birds in the woodland included a number of Song Thrushes which had a Fieldfare and a Blackbird tagging along with them, Siskin, Linnet, Goldfinches, Spanish Sparrow, Blackcap and Robin.
Spanish Sparrow, male
Spanish Sparrow, female
After that I headed down to Punto del Matorral near Morro Jable. I looked around the scrub near the lighthouse but there wasn't much around other than a couple of Cattle Egrets.
Cattle Egret
Cattle Egret
My last stop of the day was Vega de Rio Palmas. Although the reservoir was dry, the walk down the barranco to the reservoir was very good. The lovely African Blue Tit was quite common along here, as well as Sardinian Warbler and Chiffchaff and a single Grey Wagtail. Southern Grey Shrike was also quite common in the area and seemingly much more approachable then other areas I've visited.
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