Lanzarote, a place of ornithological tourism
Lanzarote began to be known by the tourism as the ideal tourist sun and beach destination. Nowadays, the art and culture centers are great tourist attractions, but Lanzarote is becoming more required as a nature and ornithological tourism destination. It is a tourism that now could be minority but it is a kind of tourism in which is increasingly the number of person interested on.
Due to its location, Lanzarote is a key point of birds migration. Lot of them use the island as a resting spot in their journey thanks to the proximity of the island to the African coast. Although all the island has special characteristics that make it special to be a place of bird watching and there are different interesting places of Lanzarote to do it. For example, Las Salinas de Janubio, the salt marsh of La Santa or the area of el Jable in Famara. Today, we will focus in the coast of Arrecife.
Ornithological tourism in Arrecife
By its coastal characteristics, Arrecife is an area with a great wealth of pelagic and marine birds. The coast is formed by islets, reefs and inland lagoons. All of them created an unique place with a great marine biodiversity both of animal and of plants. So, the area has a great potential to develop the ornithological tourism because the shallows are the ideal place where birds can find their food.
This area is very accessible and it is easy to watch different species without cause stress or damage because the sightings are at a prudent distance from the birds. The best time to watch birds are normally with the sunrise and the sunset. Also, it is possible at low tide because in that moment birds go to the puddles to feed on.
The main species of birds of this area are the waders and groups of seagulls. However, in the migration season it is a place of passage of species that are not characteristic of these latitudes. They attract your attention because are species considered rares.
Common birds in Arrecife
Among the common species that we could watch in the are of San Gabriel Castel and Las Bolas Bridge are:
Yellow.legged gull (Larus michahellis)
[Photo J.Sagardía. http://birdinglanzarote.blogspot.com.es]
Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)
Kentish Plovers (Charadrius alexandrinus)
Ruddy turnstone (Arenaria interpres)
Sanderling (Calidris alba)
Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)
Little egret (Egretta garzetta)
[Photo J.Sagardía. http://birdinglanzarote.blogspot.com.es]
But as we have told you before, at certain times of the years we could watch other species that are not to common but bring more added value to this are of the capital.
[Foto de Birding Canarias]
Recommendation
We suggest you a little route on foot from the area of the Islet of Francés, the maritime avenue and the bridges that connect the San Gabriel Castle with the city. With this route you could have an idea about the greater biodiversity of the area. Also, you could check how easy is to watch birds from there without inflicting trauma to them. You only need to be patient and have a good eyesight because some of the birds have the ability to blend in with their surrounding and sometimes is difficult to discern them.
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