Hi guys welcome back to the channel. Now if you remember back to October of last year I went out
to Gran Canaria and while I was out there I decided to go out and photograph a lot of the
local birds, had a little expedition out, and got some great shots. I'll put a link up to that video
there, feel free to go back after this video and watch that video if you've not already seen it.
This time however, it was more of a case of taking photographs of those birds as
we went around on our daily routine or excursions 'on the fly I guess'...
...that was a horrible pun! The first species to talk about are Cattle Egrets. Now I,
encountered these a few years ago back in Fuerteventura where these birds were fairly
wary of humans and it was quite rare to see one. Over in Lanzarote however they're like seagulls,
yep, they're hanging around waiting to pick up any scraps from tourists
and raiding the bins all that type of stuff! I encountered two different specimens,
the first one was a little bit of a dishevelled looking example, and he was or she was down by
the beach. Now it was doing it the normal thing of looking for insects/bugs, small reptiles,
the type of thing type of thing that they feed on. The second Cattle Egret that I came across
was in the town centre itself he was very much used to people and had staked out his own little
area which was on the top of a building that was used to house all of the huge great big dumpsters
for the restaurants, obviously he was there to look out for snacks, but he wasn't afraid
to come and mix it with the people sat around at one of the bars. These next shots are of a
species I'd never seen before but are quite common on the island which are a Southern Grey Shrike.
I'd never heard of this bird before and it took some googling to find out all about this little
bird and what it gets up to. We spotted this bird high up on the building and it took a bit
of identifying, however, that beak with this distinctive point on the end gave it away,
indicating that it was some kind of predatory bird. They're also known as a Butcher Bird because
of what they basically do to their prey, they sort of tear into it, rip it apart and they consume
anything from insects, small mammals, lizards and other birds - so not a nice species particularly.
It looks quite friendly, quite a small bird and you wouldn't have expected it to be predatory.
The shots themselves I'm not too happy with, the bird it was in a difficult position because the
sun was quite high in the sky and we were pointing up from ground level, up towards the bird,
so the images were a little bit washed out. Obviously it's not a colourful bird and it
was sat on a white building in the middle of the day, so there wasn't a lot of contrast or
anything like that going on in that shot. But I'm pleased to have captured the photographs.
Another species which we encountered was the Willow Sparrow or Spanish Sparrow,
now they were nesting in a palm tree and while it was a good stretch for the fz82 to reach up
to get a shot, we were able to get, I think, a few half decent shots. It definitely shows the
plumage, you could identify the type of bird it was, and I think these came out quite well.
This next shot is of a Ruddy Turnstone. There are a group of these little guys
in a pack, running between all the sunbathers on the beach.
I caught up with them going around the corner to one of the inlets where there were some
interesting rocks where they were looking for food and managed to catch some shots of them feeding.
They're always a pleasure to watch, they're quite fun as they run away from the tide as it
comes in and then run back to where they were previously which can be quite entertaining.
The next species we encountered down in Puerto del Carmen and is the rose ringed or ring-necked
parakeet. We encountered these noisy little birds down in Puerto del Carmen as I said
and certainly we knew they were there before we saw them because they are so distinctive in their
call. So I knew I was on the hunt to see if I could capture some shots of these little parrots.
They are a very bright green and blend well with the palm trees, so not always easy to spot them,
but usually they're darting about so you catch them when they move and just have to follow them,
track them and then when they land try and get some shots. The birds themselves aren't native to
the Canaries and were introduced they're actually from, they're an Afro-Asian species, quite common,
not threatened in any shape where form, and they seem to be on the increase in these islands,
similar to the Monk Parakeets I took photographs of in Gran Canaria. After I'd observed and tried
to photograph quite a lot of birds high up in the palm trees, which was quite difficult, I did
come across a pair on the main trunk of palm tree, which was handy, as it was much closer to myself.
They weren't too afraid of me I did keep my distance and use the zoom of the fz82, which is
always a strong point with that camera. I observed them for a little while took two or three shots
and then they flew into a hole in the palm tree where they clearly have their nest.
As well as those species I successfully managed to photograph the ones that also got away
or the ones I wasn't really that interested in taking photographs of. Basically loads of pigeons
and collared doves. Also some too difficult to photograph because they're constantly on the move,
there were some swift species flying around, which were great to watch but too difficult
to photograph with the fz82. Being close to the coast obviously seagulls were plentiful
and I did actually manage to spot a lone Hoopoe. Whilst in Gran Canaria I was
more than happy to photograph them because they were so plentiful and not afraid of people, this
little guy wasn't having any of it and as soon as I approached or got anywhere near, even with
the camera with the zoom of the fz82, no he wasn't having any of it and he was off! so yeah no hoopoe
photos in Lanzarote - they still evade me. I hope you enjoyed this little vlog,
probably not one for your hardened bird spotter or bird photographer, however it just goes to show
what you can actually capture on holiday without having to spend hours in the hide or going on a
specialized trip. If you like 'informal bird photography' let's call it like this then
maybe the Canary Islands are worth a visit. As ever like subscribe on all that good stuff
and I hope you've enjoyed the video, give it a thumbs up, see you again next time bye for now.