Santa Cruisin'

Friday, the last day of our vacation, we decided to swing by Santa Cruz - a city by the ocean and famous for beach bums and surfers. We first visited Pogonip Open Space Preserve - a forest sanctuary on the hilly side of the city. It was here that we were able to finally get a shot of the Chestnut-backed Chickadee.

And we were even rewarded with our third lifer of the trip - a Hairy Woodpecker!

From Pogonip, we cruised the road hugging the ocean stopping occasionally to take in some interesting sights:

Our fourth lifer was also encountered here. The unusual Pigeon Guillemot:

From there it was a long, almost boring  5 hour drive home along Highway 5, punctuated every now and then by some suicidal bug smashing against our windshield.