Matti Koivula
I spent one December week on Canaries, six days on La Gomera and a one-day visit to Tenerife. I had a rented car (Avis, Renault Clio) for the whole period. Generally, the costs were lower than elsewhere in Europe (the car roughly 200 EUR/week). I lived in hotel Jardin Tecina in Playa Santiago, a half-an-hour drive from the main harbour city San Sebastian. The views of Gomera were perhaps more enjoyable than the local bird fauna. I had a couple of old trip reports but these were of little use, because the reporters had only briefly visited Gomera (to twitch the doves). Thus the bird sites and species reported here may be novel to some degree. The aim of my Tenerife visit was only to see the Blue chaffinch and Mount Teyde. At the Las Lajas chaffinch site I got information about the rarities in F de R and decided to visit that site, too. - Bottlenose whales could easily be seen from the Tenerife-Gomera ferry, but no sea birds (except gulls near Tenerife coast). Several Monarch butterflies were seen during the week.
The weather was fine for the whole period (sunshine, half-cloudy, daily temperatures around +15-25 C, depending on the altitude), with an exception of a couple of misty days. Abbreviations used in the table: PS = Playa Santiago, SS = San Sebastian, G = the following text concerns Gomera only. "10+" = a minimum of ten birds was observed. With huge subjectivity, the most interesting species are marked with bold.
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| Species | Scientific | Notes |
| Grey heron | Ardea cinerea | Tenerife 2 (Dec 21), G: Puerto de Vueltas 1 and PS 1 (both Dec 23) |
| Little egret | Egretta garzetta | Tenerife 2+ (Dec 21) |
| Muscovy duck | Cairina moschata | G: a total of 2 (exotic origin) |
| Green-winged teal | Anas crecca | Tenerife, Faro de Rasca -/2 (Dec 21) |
| Blue-winged teal | Anas discors | Tenerife, Faro de Rasca -/1 (Dec 21) |
| Shoveler | Anas clypeata | Tenerife, Faro de Rasca -/1 (Dec 21) |
| Gadwall | Anas strepera | Tenerife, Faro de Rasca -/1 (Dec 21) |
| Lesser scaup | Aythya affinis | Tenerife, Faro de Rasca -/1 (Dec 21) |
| Kestrel | Falco tinnunculus | G: common, daily 2-10 ind seen |
| Peregrine falcon | Falco peregrinus | G: one seen on mountains between SS and PS (Dec 22) |
| Sparrowhawk | Accipiter nisus | G: only 1 hunting in PS (Dec 22) |
| Common buzzard | Buteo buteo | G: common near the large upland forest areas, e.g. El Cedro 5-6 |
| Barbary partridge | Alectoris barbara | G: common (total 10+) on open mountain slopes, meadows and fields, especially within 2-3 km NE-NW from PS and PS airport. Most active at dawn and dusk |
| Herring gull | Larus argentatus | abundant in Tenerife, scarce in Gomera, except a flock of 25 seen at a small dumping place east from Vallehermoso |
| Lesser black-backed gull | Larus fuscus | common in Tenerife, where 10+ (Dec 21), the only in G: Puerto de Vueltas 1 ad (graellsii) |
| Ring-billed gull | Larus delawarensis | Tenerife, Faro de Rasca 1 first-winter (Dec 21) |
| Black-headed gull | Larus ridibundus | Tenerife, Faro de Rasca 2 (Dec 21) |
| Sandwich tern | Sterna sandvicensis | only in Tenerife, where 7+ (Dec 21) |
| Rock dove | Columba livia | abundant in Tenerife, as in G: e.g. SS 100+ |
| Laurel pigeon | Columba junoniae | G: only 1 seen (Dec 18) in La Carbonera, at a patio of a roadside restaurant |
| Bolle’s pigeon | Columba bollii | G: seen only once: Dec 18 in El Cedro a total of 2-3 |
| Collared dove | Streptopelia decaocto | G: PS 10+, SS 20+, scarce elsewhere (abundant in Tenerife) |
| Palm dove | Streptopelia senegalensis | G: a pair in PS center, eastern corner of the beach (Dec 23) |
| Bar-tailed godwit | Limosa lapponica | Tenerife, Faro de Rasca 2 (Dec 21) |
| Greenshank | Tringa nebularia | Tenerife, Faro de Rasca 3 (Dec 21) |
| Little stint | Calidris minuta | Tenerife, Faro de Rasca 1 (Dec 21) |
| Ring-necked parakeet | Psittacula krameri | Tenerife, Los Christianos 1 (Dec 21) and G: Puerto de Vueltas 1 (Dec 23) |
| Raven | Corvus corax | G: easily seen almost everywhere, but not abundant |
| (Canary) swift | Apus unicolor (+ apu/uni) | G: common only in El Cedro (where 100+), but seen also elsewhere |
| Great spotted woodpecker | Dendrocopos major | Tenerife mountain forests (Mt Teyde) a total of 10+ (Dec 21) |
| Great grey shrike | Lanius meridionalis | Tenerife, Faro de Rasca 1 (Dec 21) |
| Robin | Erithacus rubecula | G: common in villages, on bushy slopes and coniferous forests |
| Blackbird | Turdus merula | G: common in villages and gardens |
| Blackcap | Sylvia atricapilla | G: common in villages and gardens |
| Spectacled warbler | Sylvia conspicillata | G: common on bushy, dry slopes. The highest numbers 7 in a canyon 1 km west from PS |
| Sardinian warbler | Sylvia melanocephala | G: scarce, seen three times: on Dec 20 male in Cruz de Maria (an old burned bushy site) and on Dec 23, female in Chipude (the Corn bunting site, see below) and female in Puerto de Vueltas |
| Chiffchaff | Phylloscopus collybita | G, Tenerife: the most common bird on wooded areas everywhere |
| Goldcrest | Regulus regulus | G: a total of ca. 20 seen or heard in various forests |
| Blue tit | Parus caeruleus | G: common in deciduous forests, and in gardens |
| Grey wagtail | Motacilla cinerea | Tenerife, Faro de Rasca 2 (Dec 21) |
| Canary pipit | Anthus bertheloti | G: common on dry, open sites and upland meadows |
| Spanish sparrow | Passer hispaniolensis | G: abundant in PS, scarce elsewhere |
| Canary | Serinus canarensis | G: common and occurred often in huge flocks, but not everywhere: the best sites were the northern slopes of PS and agricultural slopes of the western side of Chipude |
| Linnet | Carduelis cannabina | G: PS 3 (Dec 18; ca. 2 km north from the village) and Chipude 2 (Dec 23) |
| Goldfinch | Carduelis carduelis | G: 15 in PS (Dec 18), ca. 2 km north from the village |
| Chaffinch | Fringilla coelebs | G: hard to find, only 1/- at a roadside verge in El Bailadero (Dec 19) and 1/- in a deciduous forest in Las Hayas (Dec 23) |
| Blue chaffinch | Fringilla teydea | Tenerife, Las Lajas a total of 3/2 (Dec 21), at the height of 2000 m a.s.l., but none elsewhere at the mountain forests! (Despite the messages of some earlier reports, the species thus can be hard to find) |
| Corn bunting | Emberiza calandra | G: a total of 15 in Chipude village, on the western slope of the village "centre" (landmark: a school building on the opposite slope of the depression) |
| TRIP TOTAL | - | 48 spp. |
| - in Gomera | - | total 33 spp. |
| - in Tenerife only | - | 15 spp. |