Fuerteventura Days 4-6

On Saturday morning Olof picked me up at 630am and we first went on a Barn Owl dip (the endemic island form) and then we went to Barranco de la Torre to look for migrants. Ebird list HERE.  Barranco de la Torre looks a great place to get a vagrant- best we could muster up was a Yellow-browed Warbler, 12 Chiffchaff, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Willow Warbler, 2 Song Thrush and 1 Robin- so clearly a lot of migrant potential even in winter. The barranco (a gorge in Fuerteventura) also held good numbers of Spectacled and Sardinian Warblers and last year, Harry Hussey found Tristram's Warbler here too.

Yesterday I spent an hour or so in the morning photographing the Yellow-browed Warbler at the shopping centre in town and then we drove through the mountains in the afternoon to Ajuy and then photographed some tame Barbary Ground Squirrels in the afternoon back in town.

Today I checked out a couple of sites including a Sewage Farm at La Oliva (Ebird list HERE ) and the pools around Rosa del Taro (Ebird list HERE).  Best bird again was another Yellow-browed Warbler at Rosa del Taro reedbed. Seems like there is a Yellow-browed in every suitable piece of habitat out here.

 Yellow-browed Warbler (above and below) at Rosa Del Taro reedbed

 Yellow-browed Warbler in the shopping centre by the beach at Caleta de Fuste

 Cattle Egrets at the Sewage Farm at La Oliva- also about 20 Moorhens here but despite my best efforts- no rare African Crakes. Another Allen's Gallinule has been discovered on the island, in the south at Costa Calma so we are heading there tomorrow 

 Spectacled Warblers (above and below)- a common resident 

 Ruddy Shelduck- a surprising characteristic bird of Fuerteventura- present in gorges and widely across the landscape prominent with its clown like calls 

 Barbary Ground Squirrels 

 Rosa Fel Taro- an interesting complex of pools and a reed bed in this area 

View looking north