Laguna Grande Park, Monterey

We found out about this site largely thanks to a wintering American Dipper, which showed astonishingly well during the evening of 21st (although in poor light) but had disappeared on 22nd. The low light meant shutter speed was slow and thus my shots are nowhere near as good as I might have hoped.

We also chanced upon a wintering Palm Warbler here, which showed well on both our visits. Surprisingly waterthrush-like in behaviour and appearance, and a good one to see in the flesh with future Corvo visits in mind!

Other common birds included Pine Siskins, American and Lesser Goldfinches, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, abundant Yellow-rumped Warblers plus this Downy Woodpecker:

...and plenty of House Finches including this smart male:

Townsend's Warbler

Before the trip, one of my personal targets was to see Townsend's Warblers and hopefully obtain some decent shots of them. The vast majority of Townsend's seen proved distant, difficult to photograph, in poor condition or a combination of all three. Fortunately this individual in Laguna Grande Park posed long enough for me to fire off a few photos as it sat in a flowering shrub a few yards away, although I still left California lacking the shots that I'd hoped for.