canary islands bird guide beneharo rodriguez

The bird guide that fills a gap for Canary Islands nature lovers

The guide he always wanted to find

Biologist Beneharo Rodríguez’s passion for birds has taken material form in the guide he himself would have loved to find on the shelves. It fills a gap for birdwatching enthusiasts, but remains accessible to a general audience. His next editorial project is a guide with the same approach – this time on reptiles.

A childhood passion that never faded

“Birds have caught my attention since I was very young. Later I learned there was such a thing as an ornithologist, but even as a child I absolutely loved them. I remember sitting in class drawing colonies of seagulls or parrots. My father always had a vegetable plot at home and he, too, was very keen on nature. I recall some old calendars from the Natural Sciences Museum with pictures of birds that he had cut out and put up in the tool shed. I still remember those photos. When I started studying, I realised you could become an ornithologist, that you could own binoculars, watch birds, and that you weren’t alone – it was a normal thing, more or less.”

A book for everyone, from beginners to experts

Yes, it is aimed at enthusiasts of all kinds – more or less those interested in birds. “In Spain, we have always been a little behind in the ornithological world compared to northern European countries. But yes, you could say we are a bit crazy in the sense that we do some mad things for birds. It’s a passion you have.”

The idea had been around for a long time. “In 2014, we published another book, Vertebrados de Teno, with the Ornithology and Natural History Group of the Canary Islands, which we founded a few years ago. It is a group dedicated to the study and conservation of nature. There are about nine or ten of us, and we champion conservation causes in general. After publishing that study in 2014, we still felt there was something missing and began to think that it might be a good idea to create a guide that didn’t yet exist: a relatively compact photographic guide that covered all the species, was concise and reasonably affordable in terms of price. That’s where the idea came from.”

“We started gathering all the information, shaping it, condensing it as much as possible, and then taking photos like mad – because the guide has more than 800 of them. What it aims to do is illustrate the greatest possible variety of plumages, poses and forms: juveniles, nests… Almost every species that breeds in the Canary Islands has nest photos – very few are missing.”

Yes, it was quite an undertaking. Some photos were even left out. “We have images from 54 photographers from the Canary Islands and mainland Spain to complete the whole collection, because it was impossible to do it alone. And for the blue chaffinch, there are old photos from the 1970s because nothing recent exists. So this is an unprecedented collection of bird photos from the Canary Islands. Nothing like it has ever been published.”

Not your typical identification guide

Exactly. “The idea was that. It must be said that this is not a conventional identification guide – the kind of specialised book for recognising birds, very typical in ornithology. They tell you what the bird looks like, how big it is, what the female and male look like, a bit about its call, and maybe some habitat information. But this book is not made that way. It can serve somewhat for identification because the photo collection is very comprehensive, and we include measurements and weight for all the birds. But we don’t explain, for example, whether it has a yellow beak or not – that’s what the photos are for, and they are worth more than words.

“What we do explain is all the relevant information about the birds of the Canary Islands: the nine endemic species, their taxonomic status, whether they are abundant or not, the habitat they use, the breeding season, what the nests are like, how long incubation lasts, who incubates – the male or the female – clutch size, whether they lay two eggs or more, their diet, whether they are migratory or not… The idea is for it to be an accessible guide for many people: for those starting out in ornithology or birdwatching, or simply for anyone interested in birds or Canarian wildlife. The language is direct, simple, without too much technical jargon. And yes, it fills a gap, because until now the books that have been produced are quite technical, with references, much more extensive. I think this book was missing.”

The guide he dreamed of

“Well, this is the guide I always dreamed of finding wherever I go. What do I look for? I like identification guides – I have loads of them – but what I want is a book that tells me a bit about the birds of that place, or about the birds themselves: their ecology and biology, not so much their morphology. Morphology you can more or less cover with an identification guide. What I look for is information on where they live, the nests, the status, the taxonomy, any interesting facts about migratory behaviour, feeding or whatever, and then it should have decent photographic quality. In general, the photographic side – both quality and content – is often neglected. Here we have tried to be as refined as possible in both respects.”

Canary Islands: a European biodiversity hotspot

“The Canary Islands are a hotspot for biodiversity in general. As for birds, we have nine species that live only here – exclusively endemic to the islands – which is a record for Europe in such a small territory. We also have around 40 subspecies, including the endemic species. These are like races or forms that belong to the same species but are slightly different. We also have nearly 80 species that breed here, far more than in other archipelagos such as the Azores, due to our proximity to the African continent and our geological history.

“Besides that, we have around 300 migratory species, of which about 150 are relatively common during their migratory periods, and the other half are accidental birds that end up in the Canary Islands because they become disoriented or are carried by storms, hurricanes or the calima. All of this makes the Canary Islands a spectacular place to study evolutionary processes, the appearance and disappearance of species, ecological processes and how ecosystems function. We are genuine laboratories in that sense.”

An avian paradise with a heavy responsibility

“The Canary Islands are a paradise for European birdwatchers because here you can see unique species or different subspecies. The downside is that, being exclusive species, we have an enormous responsibility for their long-term conservation and maintenance. Many are threatened.

“We still have mass sun-and-sand tourism. There is a lot of talk about sustainability, changing the model and attracting people with higher purchasing power who leave more money and benefit the local population, but the reality is that we keep breaking records, and what is promoted is still sun and sand. It is true that in recent years something has been done with landscapes and nature, but I think it is not out of genuine commitment but simply to broaden the tourism exploitation niche.

“From an ornithological point of view, many people come independently, and now a profile of people with money who pay to hire local guides is starting to emerge. That is extremely interesting. But overall, institutional exploitation of birdwatching tourism is very limited.”

Pressure on the islands’ bird populations

“One of the main problems the archipelago faces is population density – not only from tourism but from people living here. We have grown enormously in recent decades. That means untreated wastewater, road construction and infrastructure development. All of this has consequences: direct habitat loss, disturbance to sensitive species – especially those breeding on the coast or on cliffs – collisions with infrastructure such as roads and power lines, and also the presence of introduced mammals, which is another major cause of biodiversity loss. We have all of that here in a brutal way, and it affects several species. Some have gone locally extinct, and others are about to.

“For example, the trumpeter finch in Tenerife is on the verge of disappearing. The osprey is also in a critical situation. The Canarian houbara bustard, which only lives on Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and La Graciosa, has declined dramatically. The Canary Islands stonechat, exclusive to Fuerteventura, has fallen by more than 60% in the last 20 years, probably due to climate change and drought – another cause I didn’t mention. Then there are the seabirds, such as the Cory’s shearwater or the Manx shearwater, which suffer enormously from predation by cats and rats. We must remember that these mammals were not native to the Canary Islands; we brought them. On an island environment where fauna has not evolved with such predators, the damage is enormous. So yes, the situation is critical.”

Success stories and ongoing work

“There are some positive developments, of course. For instance, the Egyptian vulture made a comeback thanks to conservation and monitoring projects. The same goes for some forest species, such as the endemic pigeons. We have bright spots and shadows, but more shadows than light.

“We work with the Barbary falcon, another success story – we now have more falcons than at the end of the 1990s. There are problems, though, because some falcons from falconry have escaped, and there may be hybridisation. We are taking samples for a genetic study, collaborating with people from the Natural Sciences Museum in Madrid, to find out what is happening with Canarian falcons, what their status is, and whether they are related to escaped captive specimens or are truly wild.

“We are also working with the osprey, monitoring the last remaining pairs – there are very few – and it is likely that this species will soon be added to the list of species that have become extinct as breeders in the Canary Islands. We are tracking the population in Tenerife, La Gomera and Lanzarote. In addition, we are involved in work on light pollution and shearwaters, and also on plastics in shearwaters.”

Next up: a reptile guide

“The idea now is also to work on a popular science guide to the reptiles of the Canary Islands. It is a long-term project. It will be a book similar to the bird one: with plenty of photography, very accessible, to bring the subject closer to people, because I think it is another book that is missing. All native reptiles of the Canary Islands are endemic, except for introduced ones, and many are threatened by the same causes. They have an extraordinary richness and are key pieces of the ecosystems because they are prey for raptors, they participate in the pollination of some endemic plants, and also in seed dispersal. There is a lot of scientific information about Canarian reptiles, but there is no small, accessible, affordable book that brings all that information together for the public.”

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