Las Palmas, Gran Canaria

 April 21

We pulled into Las Palmas, Gran Canaria this morning. Las Palmas is the 9th largest city in Spain, and the size of the harbor, the city, and the cruise ships on the docks were all a bit of a shock. Most of our group took a full day bus tour to explore the island, while a few of us went on a 4-mile hike instead. We saw a number of new and endemic species of birds, and enjoyed clambering up through the “Valley of the Kestrels”. While the Canary Islands are only 90 miles off the coast of Africa, they are isolated enough to have endemic variants of both African and European species. 

The Canary Islands were first settled in 2500 BCE by a Berber tribe from Northern Africa. They were then “rediscovered” by Europeans in the 14th century, and have been part of Spain since 1492.  Their location between Europe and Africa, and in the path of the Trade Winds have made them an important logistics stop for centuries, including Magellan’s and all of Columbus’s voyages. 

Gran Canaria, like the other eight Canary Islands, is volcanic. Also like the Cape Verde Islands, the southern side of the island is quite dry while the north is wetter and greener. Most people live and work in the south for the tourist industry, while the north is agricultural.  There are desalination plants for “gray water” purposes, while drinking and agricultural water comes from aquifers under the volcanic craters, delivered by man-made channels. Over the past ten years, there has been a noticeable decrease in rainfall and an increase in both summer temperatures and the severity of Saharan dust storms. Climate change is a very real worry here.

This afternoon we strolled through a harbor-side park and found some additional birds. Las Palmas is a lovely Mediterranean city, and being here on a Sunday enabled us to enjoy watching families out for recreation as well. 

Pictured: along the hike, Canary Island Chiffchaff, Canary Islands Blue-banded Bee (endemic)