A tale of two islands (part 3)

Having rushed around my first couple of days, I relaxed a bit once back on Gran Canaria, just doing some local birding and checking Maspalomas Bay every day since it was so close to where I was staying.  The Audouin's Gulls stayed all week, with varying numbers of Mediterranean Gulls and Greenshanks, and I even spotted a Gannet during an otherwise unproductive seawatch from the lighthouse.  My final day, however, was a full day spent with another local guide, Guillermo Bernal, with the aim of seeing the Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch.  Recently split from the Tenerife equivalent, this is now one of the rarest and most endangered birds in the Western Palearctic, with a total population of around 300 individuals, all of which live in one patch of native pine forest, which was almost destroyed by fire.  There is thus a relocation project underway, trying to establish a second breeding group elsewhere and it was there we made our first stop to look for the birds having first enjoyed the views from the highest point of the island all the way across to Mount Teide on Tenerife.

Sure enough, within ten minutes of stepping out of the car, Guillermo recognised its distinctive call and we were soon looking at a colour-ringed female from the relocation project.  I even managed to get a photo although, typically for this species, she remained high up in the trees. 

After that, we went in search of the much bluer males and heard several singing but didn't see any more at all, despite searching for eight long hours!  The scenery was breathtaking, however, and Guillermo really knows a lot about the geology and history of the islands so it was a wonderful day, with plenty of other good birds such as the distinctive, local subspecies of Great Spotted Woodpecker, Chaffinch and Robin, finishing off with two Laurel Pigeons from the (re-)introduction project.  99% of tourists to Gran Canaria spend all of their time down at the coast but they are really missing the real splendour of the island up in the mountains so I can recommend Guillermo to give you an unforgettable tour.  Having clocked up a week's list between the two islands of 65 species, ten of which were lifers, I headed back to the cold of Brussels where it is minus 7 degrees Celsius as I write this.