


We drove straight up to the Salinas at Bonanza on the East bank of the Rio Guadalquivir. By now the fog had lifted and we were treated to the sight of waders such as Avocet, Bar Tailed Godwit, Black Tailed Godwit, Spoonbill, Sanderling, Dunlin, Flamingo, Ringed Plover and Redshank. A Kingfisher made a flypast and Bob found a Caspian Tern over open water at the end of the Salinas.
We continued to pick up birds along the trail, Bob identified our first Purple Heron, and as we watched a Squacco appeared. We completed the heron family quartet when I stopped to look at our first flock of Lapwings. Rustling in a roadside tree attracted my attention to the tell-tale bright red eye of a Black-crowned Night Heron. |

In the lapwing pool behind the tree was a Wood Sandpiper, another new bird for our list, but not as exciting as the little bright yellow and black ones Elena noticed. We had stumbled upon a breeding colony of Black-headed Weavers, complete with woven nests hanging in the same tree. This species was a lifer for me and I was fascinated by their busy and somewhat noisy community in which the less colourful females considerably outnumbered their brighter male counterparts.

In between photographing all these superb birds my eye was still caught by a late flying Swallowtail butterfly that invited a shot as it fed on some yellow autumn flowers.
Further along the trail a Short-toed Lark sat long enough for a hurried shot through the open car window, which added another species to our growing list for the trip.
