Tenerife 25th September- 7th October 2014

For this particular blog post I'm going to do a summary instead of my usual day to day info.



I headed to Tenerife with my family on the 25th September, it took a day of travelling and one nights sleep there and back.
One boat, train, taxi, plane, bus later we arrived at our hotel, Hotel Isabel in Costa Adeje, near Los Cristianos on the south of the island.
The first morning there I did a bit of birding and I got familiar with the surroundings, venturing farther away from the hotel during our stay.

It was excellent birding through the parks and a certain scrubland which I favored most days, a few birds I got were Canary Islands Chiffchaffs (Lifer), Collard Dove, Feral Pigeon, Plain Swift (Lifer), Kestrel (Island Subspecie), a Buzzard, Grey Herons, 2 Little Egrets, 2 Bertheolt's Pipits (Lifer), 1 Spectacled Warbler (Lifer), Blackbirds and Goldfinch.

Yellow-legged Gull by the beach

Collard Doves, you really do find these birds everywhere though I'm not sure if some were Eurasians or Africans

Goldfinch

Kestrel by the Scrub

The same Kestrel by the Scrub and it appears to be eating small stones

My lifer in the shape of a Spectacled Warbler on the Scrub!!

Bertheolt's Pipit on the Scrub, longingly sought after but I managed to get it so close to the hotel!

A large, large Butterfly sp outside our hotel room

Three Grey Herons and the Little Egrets

My Black Stork which I have been told is an escapee

Most of the bird species I learned to find by call, the Chiffchaffs, Blackbirds, Swifts, Pipits, Spectacled Warbler and the Goldfinch were all located by call before I ever saw them.
Both the Spectacled Warbler, Bertheolt's Pipits, Grey Heron, Little Egret and Buzzard were all seen from the Scrub but the waterbirds were just flyovers.

Though only little of my holiday was spent birding, my only time birding was spent in the mornings before breakfast and when we happened to be out for a walk.
Though besides birding the holiday was excellent nonetheless.

Our days were on the beaches, checking out the shops and streets and hanging around the pool by the Hotel, at night it was at least 24 Celsius and it was nice to walk along all the shops and restaurants.

On my birthday which was the 5th I headed up Mt Teide with my stepdad's parents, it was an amazing bus trip and I even got a few good birds such as Grey Wagtail, Canary (Lifer) and Black Stork (which was presumed an escape by people I asked).
The view from the mountain was excellent and it was worth going up the cable car!

But of course our wonderful time came to an end we headed back home on the 6th and we were luckily back in Shetland by 5 o'clock on the 7th (almost missing our flight as it was cancelled but we made it on another plane).
My arrival back in Shetland was spent dashing to the Levenwick for a Siberian Rubythroat (that I missed......)


I couldn't of asked for a better holiday away, though the birding wasn't the best it was still excellent with the food, weather and the overall trip!

Species wise I got roughly 20, I was unable to get the Blue Chaffinch, Goldcrest, Great-spotted Woodpecker or the Pigeons.
My list stands at 19 (in Tenerife excluding the birds seen on the way down) for the trip with 7 Lifers.

Feral Pigeon

Canary Islands Chiffchaff

Blackbird
Collard Dove (or African?)
Plain Swift
Kestrel
Yellow-legged Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Grey Wagtail
Spanish Sparrow
Bertheolt's Pipit
Grey Heron
Little Egret
Buzzard
Goldfinch
Canary
Black Stork (Escapee presumed)
Tenirifee Blue Tit
Spectacled Warbler