Tuesday 3 May 2011

A reflection on the birds we saw on Lanzarote.


Collared Dove at Take Off

I've bemoaned the disappearance of Collared Doves from our garden in Worcestershire for some years so was delighted when we arrived at Club Tahiti in Costa Teguise and found a healthy population of these graceful and beautiful birds living feather by jowl with us tourists. They perched regularly on our balcony rails, drank very gracefully from the swimming pools and tidied up any crumbs dropped. 

Very Hostile Cactus


Pigeons were not as obvious but were eventually spotted nesting under road bridges. There was the occasional wandering seagull and a great many sparrows.
Very Bizarre Cactus
The Lanzarotean Sparrows seem to thrive particularly in the touristy areas, attracted I suspect by the availability of easy food. There was a healthy population nesting in the cave roof of the Jameos de Agua (see previous post) and heroic birds which seemed to enjoy living in the very thorny Jardin de Cactus.
Cooling off in the Cactus Garden Pool


What impressed us was their plumage which was more vivid and bold than on those which frequent our seed  feeders at home. We took lots and lots and lots of photographs,many of which ended in the editing bin, due to the sparrows inability to stand and pose when having its picture taken (nothing to do with the skills of the photographer!). I never dreamed one of our pastimes in Lanzarote would be photographing Sparrows.


Subtle sign. Gents Loo Jardin de Cactus
Not to be outdone by the Curious Fishes commitment to reporting on the immaculate state of Lanzarotean Loos. I guess the above is another work by Cesar Manrique. Visit the Curious Fish blog on http://www.randomwritingsofacuriousfish.blogspot.com/ for a view of the Ladies door sign.

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