Six birds that you will only see in the Islands. Spain has eight endemic or unique species of birds on a global scale, and six of them are only found on islands, according to data from the III Atlas of Birds in the Breeding Season presented this Thursday by SEO/Birdlife. The other two are typical of the Balearic Islands.
Among other data, the atlas, a key tool for knowing the state of conservation of Iberian avifauna and in which more than 3,000 volunteers and collaborators have participated, details that there are 450 bird species installed, of which 302 are permanently and the remaining 148, only during the spring.
These are the six unique species in Canary Islands:
- The Canary Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus canariensis). With a distribution restricted to the central and western islands. It is one of the most abundant land bird species in the Canary Islands.
- the turquoise dove (Columba bolii). It currently occupies the islands of The Palm, El Hierro, La Gomera and Tenerife. In Gran Canaria it became extinct at the end of the 19th century, although it has reappeared naturally, isolated specimens being detected recurrently since 2016 without being able to verify its reproduction.
- the rabiche pigeon (Columbajuniae). Vulnerable. It is present on the islands of La Palma, El Hierro, La Gomera, Tenerife and Gran Canaria. In this last island it has recently been successfully reintroduced. Still extinct in Fuerteventura and Lanzarote
- The blue finch of Gran Canaria (Fringilla polatzeki). Critically Endangered. Its distribution has been maintained in the pine forests of Inagua, Ojeda and Pajonales since it was discovered in this area in 1905.
- The blue finch of Tenerife (Fringilla teydea). In danger. endemic species of Tenerife which is regularly distributed throughout the Pinus canariensis wooded masses of the island.
- Canary stonechat (Saxicola dacotiae). In danger. endemic to Fuerteventura with an extensive latitudinal and longitudinal distribution, which occupies almost all the squares of the island.
However, conservation problems persist in most cases, exposes SEO/Birdlife, which explains why several of these species are included in the Red Book of Birds of Spainwithin important threat categories.
The most frequent threats are predation due to introduced speciesinadequate forest management, human activity and light pollution.
In some of these endemic species there is a small improvement with the advance of the rabiche pigeon -which gains a 73% distribution- or the blue finches of Gran Canaria (+50%) and the blue chaffinch of Tenerife (+33%).
Meanwhile, the birds from the other Spanish archipelago that appear in this classification are the Balearic warbler (Sylvia balearica) and the Balearic walled-walled (Puffinus mauretanicus).
The first of these, initially considered a subspecies of the Sardinian warbler, is present in Mallorca, Ibiza, Formentera, Cabrera and most of its large islets, while the Balearic shearwater, which is is critically endangered nests in huras and caves on islets and sea cliffs in five main island groups. A total of 24 breeding colonies are known.
European Scale
Another ten species have in Spain the only european populationsseven of which also present a major threat category.
These are: the ricoti lark (Endangered), the Houbara Bustard (Endangered), the Moorish Coot (Critically Endangered), the Ortega Grouse (Vulnerable), the Canary Blue Tit (Endangered), the Cape Swift (Vulnerable), the Saharan Runner (Endangered), the Berber Warbler, the Orange Bulbul and the Moorish Swift.
