Lanzarote Birds

As always when on holiday in these 'exotic' places, I spent a lot of time looking for the local wildlife and in Lanzarote, there is quite a lot of it to see.  The birds on offer were not rare or particularly exciting, but nonetheless good to see.
Among the dry, dusty and sandy areas you find birds well suited to the desert environment, including the Trumpeter Finch (Bucanetes githagineus).  Looking rather like a sunburned sparrow, it has a thicker beak and an endearing call - rather like that of a child's toy trumpet.

The sands of the beach provide feeding and rest for several other species.  Turnstones (Arenaria interpres) were quite abundant.

Whimbrels (Numenius phaeopus) too were present in fairly good numbers.  Like a smaller Curlew, it has an impressively long bill for probing the sand in the search for food and a bubbling call rather like that of the Curlew, but faster and more 'trilling'.

Around the more cultivated areas we found a solitary Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis).  A beautiful and small member of the Heron family, this individual was probably hunting for lizards among the rocks and plants.

Back out on the beach, my attention was attracted by a slumbering Greenshank (Tringa nebularia).  This, I think, was a juvenile bird and was overwintering here before returning to more Northern parts for the Summer.