Common name: Ganga ortega

Scientific name: Pterocles orientalis

Status: In the Canary Islands it is only present and nests in Fuerteventura, where it is relatively easy to spot, at least when it sings in flight, as it is easier to hear than to see. It is estimated that there are between 1,000 and 3,000 specimens on the island, 21% of the total Spanish population.

Habitat and distribution: It occupies desert environments, volcanic sandbanks and earthy and stony plains with hardly any vegetation.

How to recognize it: It looks like a robust desert pigeon, with camouflage colors, powerful flight and strikingly black belly.

Curiosities: The voice, very distinctive, consists of a powerful lullaby that it uses as a contact call in flight, similar to a churr…, churr. That is why in Castile it is also known as chorla or churra. In the Canary Islands it receives the denomination of bargain.