Return from Fuerteventura (Finalised)

Ooo'h those sparrows are something special aren't they.   Quite a striking Barbary Partridge, definitely stepping out!!  The stonechat is pretty too.   Lovely thread you are doing TJ, more please.....!

Resuming whilst I'm on a roll.

Waders were a bit thin on the ground. On a visit to the coast I did snap this rather distant Whimbrel. There were a few Common Sandpipers around as well but too far away.

At a small inland pond we found a Greenshank. There were some Black-winged Stilts but I didn't bother with them.

The main waterfowl on the island seemed to be Ruddy Shelduck. We'd frequently seen flocks in the air.

At another small lake near to the one above. a couple of Ruddy Shelduck dropped in.

And posed for a while

Of more interest to me were the dragonflies at this small lake some of which were new to me.

I'm pretty sure this is a Red-veined Darter which are fairly common and which I've seen in France.

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This one was new to me. After a bit of research I think it might be a Long Skimmer.

This damselfly is, I think, one of the Bluetails. The only damsel that breeds on Fuerteventura, if my research is correct, is the Sahara Bluetail but I'm not confident

Another newbie for me is this couple having a love in.

After consulting my European dragonfly book I think this might be a Migrant Emperor. 

All our experts seem to have deserted this forum  but if you see this guys I would appreciate your opinion.

I nearly forgot butterflies. Mostly we saw Painted Ladies but the one I was most interested in was this one. Quite small and very flighty. I only got one shot. It's a Greenish Black-tip

So for the finale. You must have guessed I would save the best 'til last although not necessarily in terms of photo quality.

The Houbara Bustard is one of the iconic birds of Fuerteventura and the one I was keenest to see. We'd been having distant views of them on several occasions throughout the trip but discovered the best place to see them was in the desert west of Tindaya in the evening. Accordingly, we parked our vehicle in a suitable location about 5 pm and waited. Apart from our leader I was the only one taking photos and one of our group kindly gave up his front seat (it was his turn) to me.

First up here's an uncropped  shot to show how well camouflaged they are.

A closer view. To be honest I'm not sure whether this is a male or female but It's pretty special.

This is definitely a male with all its plumes.

Suddenly, it started scuttling across the desert from left to right. We suspected that it had seen a female and started displaying.

An absolutely brilliant sight in the fading light. How it sees where it's going is beyond me.

Finally, the setting sun.

No disrespect intended but " at the going down of the sun I shall remember them" seems appropriate.

It was a great trip with a good bunch of people who all got on well  and had plenty of laughs thanks to our leader. 

I think my only disappointment was that we didn't see  a couple of the other iconic species; the Barbary Falcon and the Cream Coloured Courser but hey mustn't be greedy.

Excellent additions Tony and no wonder you were thrilled with the Houbara Bustard,  never seen anything like it before and what a very special bird to see;  the male's display plumage is fantastic - if that doesn't impress the ladies then what will  lol.   After seeing all these wonderful species, I'm not sure they would have got me on the flight home  lol     Thanks for taking the effort to post up this brilliant thread Tony, enjoyed it immensely, after all, you don't see a superb variety like that every day !    

A fitting end to your thread I thought TJ.   More fabulous photos, especially of the bustard, what a bird, as usual the male quite spectacular.   I also loved the shellduck, so different to ours.   I hope someone drops in and confirms your dragonflies, beautiful shots all of them.   Thanks so much for letting us join you on your tour, it was lovely.

Superb bustard pics - I missed them on Lanzarote (as well as the sandgrouse, coursers and stone curlew!

Brilliant captures TJ. Stone curlew looks good to me & I think your Dragonflies are OK too although the last is known as Vigrant Emperor, but I'm no expert!! Those Bustards are superb with all their nuptial plumage, what good luck to capture them like that. Thanks for taking the time to post such a lovely collection of photos!

Wow Tony, caught up with this report at last what an amazing time you had and weather was good for you too it seems. I love the Hoopoe and the middle Stonechat photo is a real stunner are they much smaller than ours or is that just a trick of the image? I looked for that Bustard without enlarging the photo but to no avail i had to enlarge it in the end they certainly blend in well.

Thanks everybody for your kind comments. Fuerteventura certainly has some special birds. Seeing the Houbara Bustard displaying like that on our last evening was a thrill and a fitting climax to our trip. I've now seen the main European species of Bustard (Little, Houbara and Great). Maqueen's is the missing one and I think I'd have to go the deserts of the Middle East to see that. I think I'll pass on that one.LOL

@Noisette, you are quite right about the the dragon being a Vagrant Emperor. I'd looked it up correctly but for some reason had typed "Migrant".

@Shane, the Stonechat didn't look any smaller than our home grown one. Its colours were noticeably duller though.

For those that spotted and identified the Stone Curlew correctly, well done. I had the devil's own job to see it through my bins and couldn't see it at all through camera viewfinder hence it being out of focus.

A wonderful thread and report Teejay,thoroughly enjoyed!It's always special to see photos of birds/animals &insects we may never get to see ourselves.Can't pick a favourite photo,all fab but how great you got to see the Houbara Bustard displaying like that -those eyes are amazing!

Jayne