Poland, July 15th-17th: First days

We departured from Apeldoorn at 6.30 in the morning on the 15th. Our plan was to drive to Bialowieza in two days. After driving 700km through Germany, passing the German-Polish border at Frankfurt a/d Oder, we arrived at Pozradlo where we had picked our campsite, a dutch campsite called De Kroon.  In Germany we had seen quite a few Red Kites along the highway and also a Black Kite. Along the highway near the Polish border we saw an Osprey nest from the driving car with a bird sitting on the nest. We'd them at exactly the same place three years earlier as well. In the morning of the 16th we woke up with the sound of Cranes, Corn Buntings, Golden Orioles and in the mean time the Fieldfares had replaced the Blackbirds.

We packed our stuff and continued our journey to Bialowieza. After a full day drive with some breaks in between we arrived at Bialowieza around 5 in the afternoon. We camped at the campsite next to the campsite U michala. We liked this campsite more because of the space and it was less busy.

In the evening we had a short trip with our bicycles. We drove to Pogorcelze, north of Bialowieza. On the way there we had several singing Rosefinches, a singing Savi's Warbler and a calling Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. In the city of Pogorcelze we had another Rosefinch and we had fine views of our first Wryneck of the trip.

17th of July

We decided to have a bit of a sleep-in this morning. Because of the light we already woke up at 4.30 but a relaxing day would do no harm. At the campsite, during breakfast, we had Middle-spotted Woodpecker, Icterine Warbler and a welcome surprise was a Wryneck in front of the tent.

Wryneck (Jynx torquilla)

After breakfast we cycled to Teremiski. On the way we had nice views of Rosefinches. In the clearings of Pogorcelze and Teremiski we had a couple of Lesser Spotted Eagles. At Teremiski a Great Grey Shrike was perched on a wire.

Rosefinch (Carpodacus erythrinus)

Lesser Spotted Eagle (Aquila pomarina)

In the afternoon back at the campsite Serins and Siskins were foraging at the campsite, offering some photo oppertunities. In the Bialowieza village we heard and saw our first Collared Flycatcher of the trip. A female type.

Serin (Serinus serinus)

The evening was spent in the eastern part of Bialowieza, in Wysokie Bagno Reserve. At the site where we had Three-toed Woodpeckers before we found them here again! Two Three-toed Woodpeckers were seen foraging in dead trees. In the dead trees we also saw some Pied Flycatchers.

 Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus), the bird dissappeared too quickly before I could take a decent picture. It disseappeared to the back of the tree and we didn't find it again!

 Evening on the eastern side of the Bialowieza village

Pierogis at noon

Day 7: Quality birding

24th of July:

Photographing a Houbara Bustard was one of our most-wanted wishes for this trip. So we give it a try this morning. We visit the site where we saw the Houbara's our first night. Whilst we are on the way we already see a Houbara Bustard passing the highway, on the plains a few km south of Guatiza! What a start! The bird flies right over our car, fantastic! As on most mornings, there is a good cloud cover, which keeps the heat waves away and provides good light conditions for photographing.

While we're driving on a dirt track I see a large bird circling. As the light is not that good yet, I first think it's a  Raven but it turns out to be a nice female Barbary Falcon! 

As we drive on we suddenly discover a Houbara Bustard walking in front of the car! The bird sees us and walks away but it's not shy and starts foraging at a good range! Our first close encounter!

Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis undulata fuerteventurae)

Next stop is Haría where we visit the cultivated fields south of the village. From Haría we walk a path towards the north (this path eventually goes up into the Barranco). As we'd observed before, there are many Spectacled Warblers around and we are offered some good photo oppertunities:

Spectacled Warblers (Sylvia conspictilla)

We see 5 Fuerteventura Blue Tits. These show really well, just like the warblers:

Fuerteventura Blue Tit (Cyanistes degener)

When we're almost back at the car we see large panic amognst the Feral/Rock Pigeons. It doesn't take long for us to see what's the cause: a (presumably) pair of Barbary Falcons is hunting them! We don't see if they have any succes as they disseappear to the cliffs after a while. 

We drive back through the Barranco the Chafaris again, where we see another 4 Fuerteventura Blue Tits. Also we observe 4 different Eleonora's Falcons at the same spot where we saw the one the day before. They're hunting above a small reservoir of water in a corner of the barranco. They're hunting on dragonflies and showing well. Great raptors! Later on the photos we see that one of the falcon's is ringed, where would this bird come from??

Bad light... 

And in the mean time an Egyptian Vulture passed by:

Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus majorensis)

In the early evening we visit Jameos del Agua. A cave with shallow water. It's a really nice place with the endemic Blind Crabs, that occur in the water in the cave. We see tens of them in the water, really special. A must to visit! A Fuerteventura Blue Tit is observed in the gardens there and over a 1000 Cory's Shearwaters pass by.

 One of the Blind Crabs

Fuerteventura Blue Tit (Cyanistes degener)

A Grey Heron  is observed flying over the highway near Guatiza on our way back.

What what what what a great day!

Day 6: On top of de Risco

23rd of July:

Another walk was made this morning, this time we didn't pick the wrong track:) We drove up to the Hermita, on top of the Risco de Famara. These are the cliffs you see when you are in Famara. But you can also get on top of them! From Los Valles you drive to Los Nuevos where you come near the edge of the cliffs. We parked the car near the Hermita and got out of the car to make the walk. First we enjoyed the view from there. The wind was very strong, it blew my sunglasses off... at least 6 bft.

 View to the south

 Famara 

 Tammo in the wind!

And myself

We started our walk, and walked parralel to the cliffs in a northern direction. Our walk would lead us to another viewing point (even prettier than near the hermita).

As we walked we came by a weather station, which amongs others, measures the volcano activity. Almost everywhere on the island, you can see this building, located on top of the cliffs. During our walk we saw Linnets, Turtle Doves, 3 Lesser Short-toed Larks, 1 Hoopoe, Stone Curlew, Spectacled Warbler and near the very nice viewing point we had two Egyptian Vultures soaring below us, patrolling the cliffs. Two migrating Red-rumped Swallows were seen here as well. Mum and sis went back to the car, and my dad and I went on to Haría, where the girls would pick us up again with the car. We descended down to Haría through a very beautiful barranco, probably the greenest on the island.

In the cultivated fields, just south of Haría (and at the end of the barranco) we had our first Fuerteventura Blue Tits, some 20 Canaries, many Spectacled Warblers and a few Turtle Doves. Certainly a spot to come back to some time later!

In Haría we had some drinks and then went home again. We passed Barranco the Chafaris (Tabayesco) and here we found a light morph Eleonora's Falcon hunting! Quick stop with the car delivered us good views.

Here's one of them:

Eleonora's Falcon (Falco eleonorae), light morph 

In the evening we did some seawatching east of Orzola, resulting in 1500+ Cory's Shearwaters, but also 5 Bulwer's Petrels. The observations of the Bulwers were however, very brief and quite distant, as they were  dissappearing behind the waves all the time, making it extremely difficult to follow them. Near the harbour of Orzola we see a dark morph Eleonora's Falcon flying over the sea, probably going to its nesting colony north of Lanzarote. Furthermore we see a Little Egret and two Redshanks.

Day 5: A cream-coloured evening

22nd of July:

Another day on Lanzarote! After some good breakfast we left the apartment with all of us. We wanted to do some hiking in the neighbourhood of Guatiza. We searched for the Barranco de Teneguime. We thought we'd found the right track and started the walk. Later it turned out it was a track walking just parralel to the Barranco, so we were walking on the hills on the egde of the Barranco. We saw some Ravens and apart from the Berthelot's Pipits that are always everywhere there was not much seen. After the short hike we drove to Los Cocotheros, a small village along the coast, east of Guatiza. We checked the saltpans there but there were no waders or such thing present. The birds simply just weren't around. Around noon we decided to go Jardin de Cactus. This is a wonderful garden full of catcuses and other plants, very impressive. Since there was water, there were also some nice birds around. We found at least 4 Melodious Warblers here, a nice surprise, as this is, as far as I know, not a common migrant here, and four together is a good score then! There were also flocks of Spanish Sparrows and the flyover of two Bee-eaters was a good one!

Jardin de Cactus

 Spanish Sparrow (Passer hispanicus), male

Melodius Warbler (Hippolais polygotta)

In the afternoon some snorkling and swimming was done in the sea near Costa Teguise, resulting in the observations of some really nice fishes, such as Lizard Fishes. In the evening my dad and I went to El Jable again. We went to the same areas as before. Soon we had 10+ Stone Curlews:

Stone Curlews (Burhinus oedicnemus insularum)

Other observations were at least 7 Hoopoes:

Hoopoes (Upupa epops)

A nice Kestrel of the ssp dacotiae:

Common Kestrel (Falco tinniculus dacotiae)

We knocked on the door on this Southern Grey Shrike was at home:

Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meriodinalis koenigi), the 2cy bird

And here a recording of the bird singing/calling:

 Southern Grey Shrike ssp koenigi, El Jable, Lanzarote by Fmeijer 

But best of all, was the group of 12 Cream-coloured Coursers we came across. My dad first heard them calling in a patch nearby. Then a few took off but the rest stayed and showed really well. I screwed up a bit with my camera settings, just when was close to the car.. you can guess, my dad has perfect images of that moment!

Cream-coloured Courser (Cursor cursorius)

El Jable, with the Famara cliffs on the background.

Day 4: Timanfaya PN

21st of July:

This morning we set off to Timafaya National Park. We had to be there around 9:00 to be there before the large crowds would arrive. We drove with our own car to the restaurant of the park and there we had to wait to get in a bus. This bus would drive us around the park. With a large bus we left the parking lot and drove on really tiny roads with sharp bends. Thumbs up for the driving skills of the drivers! We drove past some steep slopes..

 The park and its parking lot

 Miles of lava

 Some volcanic rocks

View with the bus

 A geiser (a man with a bucket threw water in the hole, just to spoil it for you, haha)

 Very very hot ground...

Berthelot's Pipits didn't seem to care much. 

Afterwards we went to El Golfo for a meal. We stopped at the salinas of Janubio. Here we saw some 20 Black-winged Stilts but there was not much else.

Salinas de Janubio

 On the shore of El Golfo my dad and I spend some time photographing the Atlantic Yellow-legged Gulls, of which there were plenty around. There were hundreds of Cory's Shearwaters off shore, at least 100 flying by every 5 minutes.

 1cy

 1cy

 2nd summer, 3cy

 Adult

Another adult of the Atlantic Yellow-legged Gulls (Larus michahellis atlantis)