Fuerteventura        

by Dave Pearce

22nd February - 1st March 2005

We stayed in the south near Jandia. In order to increase my chances of seeing Houbara Bustards, I had bought the Birdwatchers' Guide to the Canary Islands by Clarke and Collins. The book recommends various plains for bustards and suggests stopping along the road, including dirt roads, and scoping for them, preferably early in the morning or late at night. While driving around the island I did this now and again without success, but it was a bit tedious for my non-birding wife!

I attempted to visit the recommended Barranco de la Torre near Caleta de Fustes and followed the directions in Clarke & Collins and parked by the 'no entry' sign. Just before we dropped over the edge of the barranco I noticed a car had come up the road from the works and had stopped 25m from my car. I am unsure what made me suspicious but I decided to keep an eye on it before I went out of sight. He drove up to my car, got out and surreptitiously peered into it whilst looking in all directions for the owners. He opened his boot and got out equipment to jemmy open the rear door! Bloody cheek and within 25m of a busy road, although he had parked his car across the back of my car, presumably to hide his activities. We shouted and made our presence known to him and fortunately he made off. I had taken my scope with me during the day to scope for bustards (none seen) and foolishly decided not to take it into the barranco and left it in the boot! I wonder whether he had seen others following the directions of Clarke & Collins and had made a rich picking of optics over the years.

The book also mentions the sandy plains across the peninsula behind the nearby Costa Calma as a possibility for Bustards. The town has expanded rapidly since the book was published in 1996 and was busy with walkers and some 4-wheeled vehicles. However, I decided to concentrate on these plains as they were only 20 minutes away from my hotel.

First attempt for Houbara

I drove out a short way behind the La Palmeral supermarket in Costa Calma at 10:30am. Far too late for serious bustard spotting as walkers could be seen in all directions and several 4-wheeled vehicles were driving around. However, several pairs of Cream-coloured Coursers (bannermani) was seen almost immediately. It was nice to see them running about and flying a few yards but surely they cannot breed successfully here, there is far too much disturbance? I also put up two and then later six Black-bellied Sandgrouse and heard their bubbly call. Unfortunately they saw me before I saw them and I could not pick them up in the scope after they had landed.

There were a huge number of Lesser Short-toed Larks (polatzeki) on the plains. They came very close and their very slow wing beat display flight was seen several times. Two Common Buzzards (insularum), a few Kestrels (dacotiae on this island) and Ravens (tingitanus from North Africa) flew over. An Egyptian Vulture circled overhead at 30m and was quite impressive!

Second Attempt for Houbara

Went to the plains behind Costa Calma again for Bustards at 8:30am but already several walkers about. I thought it best to keep up high and walked along the line of the wind turbines. Just below the last one there were at least 12 Cream-coloured Coursers in sight at the same time and two lots of two pairs in another place. They seem to like these loose colonies.

Several Hoopoes were around and a pair were clearly thinking about nesting in holes in a sandbank and allowed approaches to 10m (although one gave a harsh noise perhaps in annoyance). Each time the male called hoo-hoo-hoo it looked at its feet with its bill held vertically downwards.

Third Attempt for Houbara

I made yet another attempt for Bustards on the Costa Calma plains. This time I decided to walk up the valley the other side of the line of wind turbines since there were less people there. I parked the car at the turnoff to the Hotel Los Gorriones.

I decided to keep up high, assuming any Bustards would already have been flushed by walkers and vehicles that were present. After a few hours I admitted defeat and walked back to the bottom of the valley to return to the car. Here there were many scrubby bushes which I had occasionally scanned from above but would have been lucky to see anything. Two people were walking up the valley and suddenly I had a glimpse of a Bustard's neck running away from them and across my path! Great! After 3 sessions of 3 hours each I deserved this.

There were two Houbara Bustards (fuertaventurae). They would not let me approach to less than 100m but when I crouched down, although they were aware of me, they tended to walk towards me, eventually to 75m. The more active bird had bulging ear feathers when the wind was blowing from behind (but not the other). It was slightly brighter marked with more black on its neck and I presume was the male. They often stopped and rested on their knee joints (with the lower leg facing forward) and walked a few steps like this. They had a curious way of moving the head backwards and forwards but at a rate slower than in time with their steps. None of the books do justice to the fine intricate patterning of their feathers but in most books only undulata are shown. The fuertaventurae race is much darker with black-brown vermiculation and I recall their legs were yellowish. They picked food off the ground and also ate the yellow petals growing on the scrubby bushes.

Fuerteventura Chat

Since I had not yet come across a Fuerteventura Chat I drove to a couple of nearby barrancos and almost immediately came across a pair in one and a single chat in the other. They all had slightly less white above the eye than shown in the books. There was a small amount of white on the wings and a white throat (unlike a Stonechat or Whinchat). The head was very dark chocolate brown, dark brown on the back and with a lighter brown tail i.e. again rather different from the books. Only the upper breast was buff (as illustrated). The white collar appeared to go further round than a Stonechat, but probably this was an illusion due to the collar being narrower. The upper flanks were well streaked and dirty looking (not illustrated in the books).

Other Birds Seen

Ravens were fairly common with a slightly higher pitched call than ours but still clearly a Raven's call. Trumpeter Finches were fairly common with their odd nasal call, often going around in pairs and very confiding. Berthelot's Pipits were very common and could be seen down to 3m! Around Jandia, many Monk Parakeets flew about and there were a few Spectacled Warblers (orbitalis) in the area of low scrub by the lighthouse.

Southern Grey Shrikes (koenigi) and Hoopoes are resident and are fairly common. They were in and around the hotel grounds, along the roads and on the plains and made either a coarse call similar to a Jay or a pleasant two tone song. One was with a youngster (presumably first winter) which had a yellow/flesh coloured bill rather than the adult's black bill and kept begging.

There were many superb pure Spanish Sparrows (no House or Tree Sparrows on this island) and could be seen down to 3m in the restaurants. A Blackcap was seen and Pallid Swifts (I believe) were overhead.

Offshore Sandwich Terns flew by and on the shore there were Common Sandpipers, Whimbrels, Little Egrets and a Grey Heron (much darker than ours) and Coots were inland. While walking up a valley we flushed several Barbary Partridges.

I was very surprised I did not see or hear any Stone Curlews which are resident on the island. On my last visit in April 1997 I found a nest near the beach at Costa Calma. Now the area is covered with holiday accommodation and the town is expanding rapidly on to the unique plains behind it. These plains, like the superb dunes near Corralejo in the north, may soon be devoid of Coursers and Bustards.