Cory's shearwater colonies of the Canaries
Cory's shearwater (Calonectris borealis), Bulwer's petrel, Macaronesian shearwater. Lanzarote islets, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Spain.
Best time: 15 May – 30 Sep and 20 Oct – 15 Nov (May to November). Where: Alegranza (from a boat; landing prohibited), Anaga – Roque Bermejo / Chamorga cliffs, Tenerife, Isla de Lobos, Fuerteventura (Spain). Time of day: Only after full dark: first birds about 1 h after sunset, the chorus peaks from 23:00 to 02:00 and fades before first light.
- Partly on your own
- Free
- No binoculars needed
- Sound 5/5
Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.
When is the best time?
- Peak 1: 15 May – 30 Sep — May to September: the night chorus at the colonies, moonless nights
- Peak 2: 20 Oct – 15 Nov — Late October to mid November: fledging — thousands of grounded young under streetlights, SEO/BirdLife rescue campaign 23 Oct–15 Nov
Active from 1 Mar to 10 Nov (March to November) in a typical year.
Time of day
Only after full dark: first birds about 1 h after sunset, the chorus peaks from 23:00 to 02:00 and fades before first light. Moonless nights; the lee coasts are calmest.
- Colony return: 30 min after last light → 02:30
What will you hear?
The wailing, sobbing 'pardela' chorus from thousands of birds over sea cliffs — the sound behind the Canarian mermaid legends — with the Atlantic swell and Bulwer's petrels' soft barking.
Binoculars?
No binoculars needed. Moonless nights on the Anaga cliffs; the wailing is the event. Torches off or red.
Where to go
- Alegranza (from a boat; landing prohibited) — Main colony, 8–10,000 pairs in cliff caves; Chinijo archipelago reserve, boats from Órzola. Map
- Anaga – Roque Bermejo / Chamorga cliffs, Tenerife — Remote colony reachable on foot; dark skies at the island's north-east tip. Map
- Isla de Lobos, Fuerteventura — Colony on a protected islet; day visits by permit, no overnight — record from the Corralejo shore or a boat. Map
How to go on your own, and what it costs
Anaga: drive to Chamorga (TF-123) and walk the PR-TF 6 trail towards Roque Bermejo before dark — free, but exposed and unlit. Alegranza and Lobos are closed to landings at night: boats from Órzola circle Alegranza (paid), Lobos day permits are free but daytime only — record from the Corralejo shore. Keep torches off and red.
Cost: Free on foot at Anaga; Lobos day permit free (book online); Alegranza boat trips paid (check current prices).
Free or no-guide alternative: Anaga's Chamorga–Roque Bermejo trail is the free, on-foot colony: walk in before dark on a moonless night and sit on the path.
Field-recording notes
Colonies on the islets are closed and landing is prohibited; Anaga and the Teno cliffs on Tenerife are the on-foot options — the barranco trails are open but exposed. Light pollution grounds hundreds of fledglings each autumn; keep torches off and red. Trade-wind noise is constant on the north coasts; the lee sides are quieter.
Sources
Similar spectacles
Manx shearwaters returning at nightHundreds of thousands of birds crashing in, with cackling, choking, hoarse calls from the air and burrows all around you.
Scopoli's & Yelkouan shearwater coloniesScopoli's 'crying baby' wails from thousands of birds arriving over cliffs — one of the Mediterranean's strangest sounds.
Zino's petrel calling over Pico do Arieiro at nightOne of Europe's rarest sounds: the long, mournful, tawny-owl-like moan of Zino's petrels circling the summit ridge in the dark, answered from the nesting ledges, with the occasional whimper and the quieter cackle of Manx shearwaters lower down — above a sea of cloud, in total silence otherwise.
Shearwater colonies: Îles d'Hyères and LavezziWailing and cackling shearwaters arriving over the cliffs at night to their burrows — Port-Cros holds about 90% of France's Yelkouan population — with the Mediterranean swell below.
Shearwater colonies at night, Lastovo archipelagoScopoli's shearwaters wailing and cackling overhead and from burrows — the 'crying baby' chorus of Mediterranean islets; Yelkouan's higher nasal calls; waves on rock, cicadas fading at dusk.
Berlengas: Cory's shearwaters calling over the island at nightHundreds of Cory's shearwaters wailing and sobbing over the island in the dark — the Atlantic's strangest chorus — with the yellow-legged gull colony grumbling, shags croaking on the ledges and the swell in the sea caves. On the mainland, the same birds raft silently off Cabo Carvoeiro at dusk.
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