Tenerife info (1 Viewer)

[birdboybowley]

Hey all,

Finally gotten round to visiting the Canaries in early December - having to put central heating in kinda scuppered plans for further afield....:C (But at least managed to add 3 days to Fuerteventura onto it too). Anyway, have begged and borrowed the two 'main' site guides to Tenerife and there are certainly a lot of pigeon sites to choose from. Could someone point me in the direction of the most reliable....or any 'newer' sites that won't be covered in the books. Of course, any other tips will be greatly appreciated! TIA

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[Edward]

I saw Bolle's Pigeon fairly easily at the Monte del Agua/Erjos site (the one nearer the radio masts, not the one by the rain gauge). My notes say it was "1 km from where we parked the car i.e. by the radio masts - and as the track takes a sharp left hand turn, a small path leads into the forest and then soon opens up with excellent views over the laurel forest". I saw one Laurel Pigeon here after two hours but the pigeons were all fairly distant and hurtle by at great speed. The forest here is very beautiful but about as quiet as an Icelandic forest in winter.

The friend I was with in Tenerife later found Laurel Pigeon easily on the north coast by the main road at a site called La Grimona.

 

[Richard Klim]

The wife and I had similar experiences to Edward at the Erjos site - mostly fast-flying Bolle's and only one brief Laurel Pigeon in a few hours. As well as visiting Fuerteventura (by ferry), we also made 24-hour visits to La Palma and El Hierro (also by ferry, and sleeping in the rental car) - mostly for the Blue Tits! Both pigeons were very easy at dawn in the valley at Los Tilos on La Palma, giving great views both perched and in flight.

 

[birdboybowley]

Cheers guys. Can anyone recommend 'Mirador de la Grimona' that I've read about?

 

[Edward]

Cheers guys. Can anyone recommend 'Mirador de la Grimona' that I've read about?

I refer the honorable gentleman to the last line of my first posting. I didn't have time to visit this site, but my friend stayed on and tried out this site (he missed the Laurel Pigeon at Monte del Agua - if you blink you can miss birds there). I can't remember the details of where this site is but my friend had views of perched Laurel Pigeons here.

 

[Barred Wobbler]

I saw Bolle's Pigeon fairly easily at the Monte del Agua/Erjos site (the one nearer the radio masts, not the one by the rain gauge). My notes say it was "1 km from where we parked the car i.e. by the radio masts - and as the track takes a sharp left hand turn, a small path leads into the forest and then soon opens up with excellent views over the laurel forest". I saw one Laurel Pigeon here after two hours but the pigeons were all fairly distant and hurtle by at great speed. The forest here is very beautiful but about as quiet as an Icelandic forest in winter.

The friend I was with in Tenerife later found Laurel Pigeon easily on the north coast by the main road at a site called La Grimona.

The site by the radio masts was where I had my best views of Bolle's pigeon, flying in just overhead and the layby at La Grimola gave easy, if rather distant views of laurel pigeon.

 

[nicklittlewood]

Cheers guys. Can anyone recommend 'Mirador de la Grimona' that I've read about?

This seems to be a very reliable site for Laurel Pigeon. I saw one or two during half an hour in December 2009 (one showing very well, perched for some time) and I think pretty well all the reports I've seen from folks that have been there have been of successes with this species. It is a few miles west along the main road from Puerto de la Cruz on the north coast. Driving west, pull into a small parking area just after the 2nd of two tunnels and look uphill back across the road. Not the most evocative of birding sites, being by a major road, but seems to have a pretty well 100% success rate.

I was asked a while ago for precise directions to the site so put together a couple of labelled maps - attached here as PDF (scroll down for slightly zoomed out version).

good luck

Nick

 

[birdboybowley]

I did read your whole post Ed.....honest mate
Cheers BW, certainly sounds like a good spot.
Nick, cool - think I've found it on GoogleEarth, between the two tunnels.
This will be a weird hol for me as there's only a limited number of species to see and I'm so used to being out literally dawn til dusk cramming in as much as is humanly possible....what am I going to do for the rest of the time?? Blimey, might have to relax.....nah!
Does anyone know if it's worth daytripping Gomera? Is there a chance of Madeiran Stormies from the ferry?

 

[nicklittlewood]

Nick, cool - think I've found it on GoogleEarth, between the two tunnels.

Does anyone know if it's worth daytripping Gomera? Is there a chance of Madeiran Stormies from the ferry?

The lay-by is actually just west of the longer of two close together tunnels. Zooming right in on Google maps it shows as a semi-circle on the north side of the road with the right hand part in shade.

I also did the Gomera ferry in December 2009 - was kinda hoping for Little Shearwater but didn't see a single tubenose.

Nick

 

[screaming piha]

I have day-tripped La Gomera from Tenerife and had a good day. The Blue Tit is different to the Tenerife birds (but has not been described as a ssp). Laurel Pigeon was easy (I just looked for some nice forest). Amazing contrast between lush slopes and desert slopes (sea-facing versus rain shadow). Much less developed than Tenerife. I was on a hydrofoil that was bad for seabirds.

I think I wrote about an easy place for Laurel Pigeon not by a main road upslope from Puerto de la Cruz here on BF. Maybe try the search? I've loaned my notes out so can't confirm the site, but it is in Garcia del Rey's site guide.

Erjoz was excellent for Bolle's Pigeon and superbus Robin.

 

[birdboybowley]

Much appreciated folks :t:

 

[Larry Sweetland]

You must see Laurel Pidge Ads. I missed it on my only trip yonks ago to Tenerife, after sleeping overnight sheltering from the rain in a large pipe under the track leading to the site in the NW of the island (can't remember the name). So get the b*stard and smile a bit extra for me will ya? Plenty of Bolle's though.

 

[birdboybowley]

I will try my hardest mate

 

[Barred Wobbler]

With regard to the Bolle's pigeon spot near the radio masts at Erjos, be warned - it's easy to miss it.

I was there in January 2010 and the first time I went I walked straight past it without even noticing it and trekked for what seemed like miles to the regular spot to dip on both pigeons. Another birder I met gave me directions to the radio mast site, which until then I wasn't aware of.

Park at the radio masts and follow the track for a short distance (getting on for half a mile) to a point where it turns sharp left. On the outside of the corner an almost hidden track passes between some bushes. This is the one you want. Follow it through the bushes (it's almost overgrown) for about a hundred yards to a rocky outcrop. This is the viewpoint.

 

[PhilW]

Adam.
Full trip report and sites on my blog here:

http://wirralbirders.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html

Mate went to Teneriffe this year and had Laurel Pigeon at the site we went to at Chanajiga. Follow the track and you'll see a footpath signposted to your left going uphill. He got them from up there by viewing down over the canopy.

If yo ucan get to the site we went to on La Gomera they were easy!

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

I was cruising around the Canaries last month and saw several Madeiran Petrels (also Leach's).

When I did Tenerife the Mirador site produced Laurel with no difficulty. As for Bolle's they were ridiculously easy around Erjos ponds on several dates but maybe I was just lucky with timing.

Stephen

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

Other tips - go to El Fraile for waterbirds.

 

[birdboybowley]

Great stuff all - cheers for taking the time

 

[jwreeves]

Cant help with pigeons or endemics but when i visited in may this year, the scrubland between las americas and los christianos (just east of the golf course) was full of spectacled and sardinian warblers and a few koenigi shrikes if your struggling to see them in better 'birdy' areas. Also nearly got decapitated by a few plain swifts in the same area!