A small rock in the Atlantic

The Dragon Tree Viewpoint

dragon tree, Dracaena draco, in Puntagorda

The leaning dragon tree (Dracaena draco).

There's a rather nice viewpoint in Puntagorda, on the main road at km 78. Its most obvious attraction is the dragon tree, leaning much further over than the tower at Pisa.

Red-billed chough, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax barbarus in Puntagorda

Red-billed chough, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax barbarus.

But when I was last there, I was charmed by a tame red-billed chough, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax barbarus. They're relatives of rooks and crows, but this particular sub-species only lives on La Palma where they're called grajas. They're something of an icon here, because they're so distinctive. They're also pretty intelligent for birds, and rather curious. My husband once had one pecking away at the windscreen wipers of his car.

The graja at the viewpoint came right up to me and begged for food. He even lay down and pretended to be injured, until he realised that the other family there had food, and I didn't.

Red-billedchough, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax barbarus in Puntagorda

Red-billed chough, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax barbarus, pretending to be injured.

Labels: Canaries, Canary Isands, Canary Island fauna, Canary Island flora, Dracaena draco, dragon tree, La Palma, La Plama, Puntagorda, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax barbarus, Red-billed chough

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Burr Marigolds

My father was a botanist, so he really looked forward to his first trip to La Palma. One of the plants he most hoped to find were burr marigolds - Bidens alba. But he later said he was trying not to hope too much in case he was disappointed.

That made me laugh, because they're an extremely common roadside weed. In fact they're a right nuisance for exactly the same reason that made them exciting to my father.

They have seeds that stick to your clothes. I mean really stick. A washing machine cycle won't shift the darn things. You have to pick them off one by one, and it's easy to get hundred of them. Small boys and dogs are particularly good collectors.

The local name for them is "Amorsecalo" which seems to be either a mangled version of "unrequited love" (because it's a pain, and hard to get rid of) or "Get it off, love", because you need help with the ones around the back.

Oh, and the butterfly is Colias crocea. The tops of the wings are prettier than the undersides, but they always settle like this, just to annoy photographers.

Labels: bidens alba. Colias crocea, Canaries, Canary Island fauna, Canary Island flora, Canary islands, La Palma, marigolds

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Giant Lizards

Photo EFE

Yesterday I clean forgot that in December last year they found out that the giant Canarian lizard, Gallotia auaritae, isn't extinct after all. José Antonio Mateo, a reptile expert, only found the one, but he believes there must be a colony within a kilometre of the one he found. In this case, "giant" means 30 cm (one foot) long. Extinct specimens are larger.

Twenty-five years ago, they thought Gallotia lizards only survived on Gran Canaria (Gallotia stehlini). Since then, species have been found on several other islands. The ones on La Gomera (Gallotia bravoana) and El Hierro (Gallotia simonyi) grow to a whacking 60 cm long, while the one on Tenerife (Gallotia galloti) grows to 40cm long.

Like so many animals these days, the whole lot are on the endangered list, except for the one on Gran Canaria.

I'd love to go looking for one, but they haven't told the public the location, probably very deliberately. After all, hundreds of tourists trampling all over their habitat probably would send them extinct.

Labels: animals, Canaries, Canary Island fauna, Canary islands, La Palma, Reptiles, Wildlife