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GRAN CANARIA - 2- 6th February 2024 (1 Viewer)

I know IOC still hold it as a species, hence I don't really follow each Country's own decisions. Not arguing against what they say mind you but my world list is IOC-based.

I do think that in the Canary Islands there must be a lot of hybridisation though. Part One of this Birdforum video report looks closely at the issue of African and European Collared Doves.

Worth a look perhaps................https://www.birdforum.net/threads/gran-canaria-june-2023-trip-report-video.442395/
sorry Nick I wasn’t clear, it’s been removed from the SEO list because they no longer believe it to have ever been properly established in Spain, rather than any taxonomic reason
Cheers
James
 
I wasn’t aware that there were too many tourists in the Canary Islands.
I was in Lanzarote a month ago, plenty of empty rooms in the hotel we used and getting a restaurant table on "the front" at Playa Blanca was easy - just walk in !

Birding was pretty slow, though
 
I wasn’t aware that there were too many tourists in the Canary Islands.
I was in Lanzarote a month ago, plenty of empty rooms in the hotel we used and getting a restaurant table on "the front" at Playa Blanca was easy - just walk in !

Birding was pretty slow, though
Maybe I shouldn't believe the current headlines about the Canarian economy being under strain and at breaking point. Might well be a false headline Mike.
 
Maybe I shouldn't believe the current headlines about the Canarian economy being under strain and at breaking point. Might well be a false headline Mike.
Well, we’re back there in early April (my partner’s sons have booked as a "big birthday" treat) it’s school holidays so could be a tad busier !
;)
 
Well, we’re back there in early April (my partner’s sons have booked as a "big birthday" treat) it’s school holidays so could be a tad busier !
;)
Sorry if I've caused a bit of unnecessary and probably unwarranted concern Mike, I'm sure that it will be no different to usual. Sensationalist, headline-grabbing nonsense on my newsfeed more likely.
 
It is true that during peak times there can be insufficient supply, this especially in relation to vehicle rental. When I visited Gran Canaria, admittedly in the latter stages of covid era when supplies of many things were a mess, and it was a last minute trip, there were zero options left to rent a vehicle - not a car, not even a scoorer or motorbike. Used public transport that time. There was no issue with accommodation however. On a visit a year laterr, I booked in advance and had no issues with anything.
 
Maybe I shouldn't believe the current headlines about the Canarian economy being under strain and at breaking point. Might well be a false headline Mike.

When I was last in Tenerife (feb 22) there were massive traffic jams on the orbital motorway at anything approaching rush hours and there obviously are huge sustainability issues to having a million people on an island that size and location. I’d imagine in prime tourist months it’s way beyond that
 
There have been several articles similar to the attached over the last 12 months about reducing the number of British tourists in Lanzarote and moving the island more upmarket (Scillification?? 😉) but don't known if other Canary islands have similar pressures / proposals.

 
This is along the lines of what caught my eye, it was shown repeatedly on my AOL newsfeed the week before I departed...........also ones about a lack of available hotel accommodation (which may be bull, who knows)..............


Just found out there was an Allen's Gallinule taken into care last few days, literally twenty miles away from where I was staying..........oh well............
 
Sorry if I've caused a bit of unnecessary and probably unwarranted concern Mike, I'm sure that it will be no different to usual. Sensationalist, headline-grabbing nonsense on my newsfeed more likely.
Don’t worry, we’re taking a couple of kids in the family group so we hope it is busy for extra playmates
 
Interesting read about the ringed Blue Chaffinch you saw at Pajonales; I read before that birds at Llanos de la Pez were ringed / partly reintroduced, so if one would want to count a non-ringed / truly wild bird, it had to be at Pajonales (a reason I went to see one there after seeing them easily at Llanos de la Pez). Birds ringed at Pajonales are maybe from a scientific project, who knows (or also from reintroduction, the blue color of the ring could be the indicator of that)?

Endemic ssp. on Gran Canaria, NOT shared with other islands, are: African Blue Tit (ssp. hedwigae), European Robin (ssp. marionae) and Great Spotted Woodpecker (ssp. thanneri), so good to read you saw all of those, but you didn't see ssp. superbus of European Robin as that one is only on Tenerife...!

For those interested, there is a small population of reintroduced Laurel Pigeons in one of the last pockets of native Laurel forest still on the island, namely at Los Tilos.

All details about my (short) stay are here, and a longer time on fuerteventura where the top bird imho is Slender-billed barn-owl: https://www.cloudbirders.com/be4/download?filename=DETEMMERMAN_Canaries_11_2020.pdf
 
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Sorry if I've caused a bit of unnecessary and probably unwarranted concern Mike, I'm sure that it will be no different to usual. Sensationalist, headline-grabbing nonsense on my newsfeed more likely.
Tenerife and Gran Canaria are a world apart from Lanzarote and especially fuerteventura. The reason is already in the name: strong winds in the flatter islands of Lanzarote and fuerteventura make them popular with windsurfers, hippies and other castaways, but less so with sunseekers. The problem with tourism on Gran Canaria and Tenerife is not only the peak volumes but more and more permanent residents take up a lot of space more permanently and change the character of the islands.
 
Interesting read about the ringed Blue Chaffinch you saw at Pajonales; I read before that birds at Llanos de la Pez were ringed / partly reintroduced, so if one would want to count a non-ringed / truly wild bird, it had to be at Pajonales (a reason I went to see one there after seeing them easily at Llanos de la Pez). Birds ringed at Pajonales are maybe from a scientific project, who knows (or also from reintroduction, the blue color of the ring could be the indicator of that)?

Endemic ssp. on Gran Canaria, NOT shared with other islands, are: African Blue Tit (ssp. hedwigae), European Robin (ssp. marionae) and Great Spotted Woodpecker (ssp. thanneri), so good to read you saw all of those, but you didn't see ssp. superbus of European Robin as that one is only on Tenerife...!

For those interested, there is a small population of reintroduced Laurel Pigeons in one of the last pockets of native Laurel forest still on the island, namely at Los Tilos.

All details about my (short) stay are here, and a longer time on fuerteventura where the top bird imho is Slender-billed barn-owl: https://www.cloudbirders.com/be4/download?filename=DETEMMERMAN_Canaries_11_2020.pdf
I don't think the ring was blue on the Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch that I saw - I can't recall now unfortunately. Maybe not countable to some :)-.

Yes I noticed that 'Superbus' Tenerife Robin sang differently to 'marionae' Robin on Gran Canaria.

I managed a Slender-billed Barn Owl on the outskirts of Orzola, Lanzarote, and like you was well-happy!
 

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