Azores with Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Canary Islands, and Madeira May 04—20, 2011
Posted by David Wolf
David Wolf
David Wolf is a senior member of the VENT staff and one of our most experienced tour leaders. After birding the U.S. and Mexico for over a decade, an interest in the wildli...Related Trips
It was an auspicious beginning. We were at our first stop, not an hour out of Granada and barely out of the bus, when my co-leader, Peter Harrison, spotted a pair of raptors sitting side by side on a bluff above the riverine woodland. After a bit of fumbling with the scopes, we soon realized that we had a pair of Bonelli's Eagles perched in plain view! This is one of the rarest raptors in Europe, and for the next hour we watched as they made short flights along the rocky ridge and then returned to various perches, sitting this way and that so that we could study all of their features. The eagles alone would have been enough, for rarely is this species seen so well, but here too we found such Spanish specialties as the Azure-winged Magpie, Eurasian Golden Oriole, and a Great Spotted Cuckoo.
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Blue Chaffinch— Photo: David Wolf |
Our next stop was the alkaline Laguna de Fuente de Piedra, an important sanctuary with Greater Flamingos and other waterbirds. Then it was on to spectacular El Torcal mountain, a wonderland of rocks and wildflowers. Here we found Black Redstarts nesting on the visitor's center, a bold Rock Bunting scurrying around on the footpath, and elusive Melodious Warblers singing their scratchy song from the thickets. Three Spanish ibex were spotted resting high up on the rocky rim, while our trip down the mountain produced a last-minute Eurasian Griffon, another declining raptor surviving better in Spain than elsewhere in Europe. By the time we reached the Clipper Odyssey in Malaga harbor we had seen almost 100 species, a formidable tally for a day of birding in Europe—and a great start to our trip.
Each region visited in the following days brought its highlights. At Gibraltar, a brief rain after dawn gave way to a rainbow and then sunny skies and westerly winds—and an assortment of late-migrating raptors. It was especially fascinating to watch Black Kites and Eurasian Marsh-Harriers flapping hard as they made the crossing of the Straits, but we also enjoyed the griffons and Short-toed and Booted eagles soaring over the rolling ridges.
Our two days of birding in Morocco proved to be some of the most diverse of the trip. On our first day we sampled the avifauna from the cultivated plains to the wooded slopes of the High Atlas, finally reaching the barren slopes above tree-line—and finding birds in every zone. The next day, traveling back to the coast, brought three spectacular surprises. At a viewpoint over the lovely town of Essaouira, several small falcons gently flapped their way towards us, until they were close enough that we realized we were watching Eleonora's Falcons. When we spotted more as we passed through town, we couldn't resist stopping again. Now one after another of these graceful birds drifted right overhead, allowing us to study them at close range while the photographers fired away. This is one of the scarcest and most specialized birds of the region, and Mogador Island just offshore has the largest colony in the western Atlantic, but we were very lucky to see them so well. The pairs of Moussier's Redstarts and Black-eared Wheatears at the same stop weren't bad either. Farther along we stopped to check an extensive marsh, one of the few in this dry region. Spanish Sparrows coming to drink and Ruddy Shelducks with broods were fun, but my heart stopped when a lone duck pitched down into a distant pool. Marbled Duck! This was a total surprise, another one of the rare, declining, and localized species of the Mediterranean region, and decidedly unexpected on this trip. Yes, it was distant, but it was a very special find. Finally we reached the arid dune scrub where we would search for the Waldrapp, one of the most endangered birds of the Palearctic realm. Peter had coached us well on what to watch for, and in less than two minutes of slowly cruising the habitat both vans had spotted a pair in flight. Pinpointing where they had put down, we scrambled out of the vehicles and through the bushes to a vantage point where we all watched them in the scope as they slowly foraged along. More appeared over a nearby rise and in the end we saw at least 7 individuals and spent an hour watching them. Few such rarities are ever seen this well.
Upon reaching the Canary Islands our pace slowed down to a more sensible level, allowing time to find the special birds and enjoy the scenery and plants a bit more. Our first stop, on arid Lanzarote, produced sightings of the rare Houbara Bustard for all, plus elusive Eurasian Thick-knees and an attractive pair of Cream-colored Coursers, their colors blending perfectly with the soil of the dry plains. The next day, on spectacular Tenerife, we set out to search for the Blue Chaffinch, a unique and endangered bird found on only two small islands. Peter had cautioned that it might take much of the day to find this rarity, so of course within minutes of arriving in a wonderful forest of endemic Canary Island pines we located a male singing its heart out. And then it dropped down practically to our feet to feed on bread crumbs that had been scattered! Later that day, in the bizarre subalpine scrub of volcanic El Teide National Park, we had Berthelot's Pipits strolling at our feet and prolonged studies of an assortment of plumages of the Island Canary, both endemic to Macaronesia.
A day on Madeira produced the elusive Trocaz Pigeon and one of the most spectacular views imaginable as we sat on a grassy knoll thousands of feet above the sheer slopes plunging to the sea. Later, a leisurely evening cruise off the coast of the island allowed us to search through the swarms of Cory's Shearwaters to find the occasional Barolo or Manx shearwater amidst them. On the isolated Azores landbirds were few, giving us time to simply enjoy being in these beautiful islands full of flowers, quaint villages with long traditions, vineyards, and much more, while the respirating sperm whales that appeared like magic for our final cocktail party were simply amazing.
On our last day, on Sao Miguel, the birders headed to the rugged highlands and with patience and persistence found the last special target bird of the trip, the endangered murina race of the Eurasian Bullfinch, perhaps best considered a separate species. It is a quiet and unobtrusive inhabitant of the thick native scrub on the jagged ridges—and we had prolonged good looks!
It was indeed a lucky trip, never to be forgotten, and while the above paragraphs emphasize the special birds found, there was so much more that made it enjoyable, from volcanism and wildflowers to a wonderful assortment of traveling companions.