El Jable & Las Salinas, Lanzarote : 1st March 2016

El Jable & Las Salinas, Lanzarote : 1st March 2016

Our first day of real birding was a guided tour of the El Jable desert lead byCarmen Portella Arnest from Lanzarote Active Club. Our target birds were Houbara Bustard, Cream-coloured Courser and Stone Curlew. We had previously had a lot of success with Carmen when we were last in Lanzarote so we had high hopes. Her land rover enabled us to get well off the beaten track in the desert. We were joined by a Norwegian chap and his grand-daughter. We not only managed to get some of the usual birds but we also managed to get a Canarian rarity !

El Jable

Throughout the desert ehere were plenty Lesser Short-toed Larks and Berthelot’s Pipits but it was the bigger birds we were looking for and we were not disappointed as we soon found a Houbarab Bustard; and then another, and another and, in fact we probably saw eight in total. Carmen also points out the flora of the desert and it was at one of these stops that I was scanning the horizon when I caught sight of a black and white pattern that I thought might be a Houbara. Much to our excitement and pleasure we not only got another Houbara but also a male Houbara who was repeatedly displaying to a Female. There may have been more females but we only saw the one near him. I managed to get my scope on the bird and managed to follow it remarkably easily as it displayed. This was undoubtedly the high point of the day even though there were other splendid sights.

We got lovely, close views of a Stone Curlew and eventually, after much trying, we located a small group of Cream-coloured  Coursers on the move to avoid a herd of goats on the move. We probably saw around seven and the best part was that the group contained a tiny chick, still flightless but racing along the ground !.

As great oddity was that we saw a Marsh Harrier – a great rarity – especially in the desert. As we watched it, a Houbara flew in the opposite direction causing a great conflict of interest. Carmen continued to follow the Marsh Harrier but, of course, for us a Marsh Harrier is a familiar bird but not so a Houbara Bustard.

We also got quite a few Hoopoe and Southern Grey Shrikes but also smaller birds including, obviously Lesser Short-toed Larks and Berthelot’s Pipits  but also Linnet and Wheatear. We also got a remarkable fly-by from a Barbary Falcon that had a bird in it’s talons – hopefully not our Courser chick ! Another odd, single, bird was a Swift which seemed a little out of place and we also got a Kestrel.

Bird Sightings : El Jable

Las Salinas

We had sepnt so much time in the desert that we really only had a cursory visit to the Salinas de Janubio close to Yaiza and Playa Blanca. However we did still manage to get sdome really good birds including a nice flock of Black-necked Grebes. We quickly walked up the road-facing side of the salt pans and looked from the derelict pumping station. Too soon, we had to call it a day but we had had another memorable day, especially in the desert.

Bird Sightings : Salinas de Janubio