birding...

2000 [August] - James J. Packer

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This was not a birding holiday, but if you're going to Tenerife you'd really have to walk around with your eyes closed not to pick up at least a few of the endemics...

2001 [November] - Craig Faanes

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The trip actually began last June when I purchased a roundtrip on Spanair from Washington Dulles to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. I got the tickets from Expedia.com for about half the price I could get them on the Spanair website. All was well (I thought) until a week before departure (October 20) when I checked the Spanair website to see if the departure times were the same as indicated on my tickets. Hmmmmmm....when I punched in Dulles - Madrid on October 27, Spanair gave me an itinerary on Scandinavian Airlines via Copenhagen. Then when I went to Expedia.com, they gave me the same SAS itinerary plus one on Lufthansa via Frankfurt. Something was definitely wrong here...

2002 [February] - Stephen Burch

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This is a brief report on the birding highlights from a one week family (half term) holiday to Tenerife in February 2002. Despite this, I did manage enough birding to find most (but not all) of the islands specialities...

2003 [August] - Rob Dazley

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I was able to do some early morning walks and one half day foray. We stayed in apartment on the upper outskirts of San Isidro. This is inland from Medano. Species such as Blue Tit, Chiffchaff, Kestrel and Plain Swift were seen regularly around the apartment and will probably be seen regardless of where you are staying (within reason)...

2003 [November] - Dominic Le Croissette

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The week was generally very successful bird-wise, the only notable dip being a non-endemic species, Barbary Falcon. I also found two island rarities and managed to catch up with all the known vagrants present on the island. The pace of the week was fairly relaxed as the special birds were mostly easy to find, and Tenerife's relatively small size meant that most sites on the island were within an hours drive of Puerto de la Cruz...

2003 [September] - Daniel Bastaja

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I recently returned from a one week trip to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. In my haste to pack for the trip, I neglected to bring my driver`s licence which meant that renting a car was out of the question. Fortunately Tenerife has a great (and cheap) public transport system. A comprehensive route map and schedule is available at most of the hotels. Here is a report of some of the species noted...

2004 [February] - Alan Miller

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Anne and I decided to have a month in the warm during the UK's winter and chose Tenerife. Whilst there we hired a car for a week to visit birding sites to the north and centre of the island, and at all times (during the day) we had our binoculars with us. Our target species was Plain Swift as we had missed it on our previous visit two years ago and unbelievably we saw two from the coach enroute to our hotel!

2004 [February] - Georges & Mireille Olioso

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We start from Lyon (11h45 a.m.) with Air Nostrum (Iberia), we change at Madrid, always with Iberia. We rent a car (Avis) from France. We arrive 17h, and the first bird is a lifer, Canary Islands Chiffchaff...

2005 [February] - Gerald Segelbacher

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Although this was not going to be a birding holiday, I was hoping to pick up the endemic birds occurring on the island. Trip reports were numerous and easy to find on the net. The books; Where to watch birds in Tenerife (by Garcia del Rey) and A birdwatchers guide to the Canary Islands (by Clarke & Collins), provided valuable information on the best and most reliable birding sites...

2006 [February] - Alan Millar

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It’s February so it must be Tenerife. The draw of Blue Chaffinch, Canary, Berthelot’s Pipit, African Blue Tit and Plain Swift, together with warm weather was too much for us. Anne and I made our third February visit to Tenerife and it was interesting to note some changes in birdlife. Canaries were abundant but Monk Parakeet scarce (no bad thing you might say). We hired a car for three days to visit birding sites old and new. For the remainder of the time we spent the mornings walking in the Puerto de la Cruz area and relaxed in the afternoons. At all times (during the day) we had our binoculars with us...

2006 [October] - Grahame Thompson

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...In and around the swimming pool were loads of Chiffchaffs, Collared Dove and Spanish Sparrows, three very easy ticks, also spotted were Blue Tit, Kestrel, possibly Lesser, could never suss out the calls, and one afternoon a Barbary Falcon came along, having a go at the feral Pigeons...

2011 [June] - John Rayner

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Another budget holiday: this time an attempt to see as many Canary Island and Macronesian endemics as possible, plus a few other key targets, on the island of Tenerife. To make life more interesting we also sought out endemic sub-species...