Costa Teguise

Our second day in Costa Teguise, saw us exploring a little further towards the outer extremities of the resort.  On the wasteland surrounding the town, we were delighted to find a number of different bird species, most of which were keeping their distance.  Not least of which were the Barbary Partridges (Alectoris barbara).  Difficult to see amongst the rocks and dry vegetation, they were making their presence known with their constant 'chuckar' calls.

A smaller bird was to be found in fairly large numbers around the area.  One which Malcolm would (and did) describe as a LBJ (little, brown job), this was a Berthelot's Pipit (Anthus berthelotii).  This one was hopping around in the gravel surrounding a new development of villas.  The strange name comes from a French naturalist 'Sabin Berthelot' who lived on the Canary Islands.

One of the more common species and also one of the more colourful, is the Hoopoe (Upupa epops).  These birds can be rather difficult to see, despite their bright colours and the patterning on their wings, but they are truly gorgeous birds when you get close enough.

A more familiar bird to us was the Linnet (Carduelis cannabina).  Several of these birds -well known to us here in Britain - were to be found twittering around the cacti and Ficus trees which line the town streets.