What a treat to get some winter sunshine in Tenerife and do some birdwatching there. No surprise that being on one of the Canary Islands we should come across lots of canaries. They are amazing singers.
For about a hundred years in Britain, miners used to take canaries down the mines as the birds were very sensitive to carbon monoxide and other dangerous gases. If the birds stopped singing , became agitated or passed out it signalled these gases. Many miners used to take small oxygen vials to revive the birds, which many treated as pets.
We also heard blackbirds singing in the botanic gardens and parks of Puerto de la Cruz. Also chiff chaffs could be heard and seen. We saw some blue tits too, they have slightly darker caps than in the UK.
Here is a robin, but it has a much whiter front under its red breast.
Chaffinches were most often spotted scrounging crumbs from around cafe tables. Here the male is blue, quite different from the pink males in the UK.
The female has duller colouring.
We went for a walk through laurel forests which flanked mountains in the North of the island. We heard a woodpecker drumming and later on were pleased to see this one cross our path.
Around the town we heard squawking parakeets and I challenged myself to photograph them on the last day on the island.
We saw a few butterflies on the island. This small copper butterfly was in one of the botanic gardens.
I think the next photo is of a wall brown.
Finally, in a park in Puerto de la Cruz I spotted what I think is a monarch butterfly.
It’s always interesting to see wildlife in a foreign country.
Sarah's Wildlife Watch 