Winter variety in Point Loma

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2013] – I made a quick sweep of Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery late afternoon 02 Dec 2013 on the lookout for unusual winter birds. Numbers of birds seem to have diminished here, even the Yellow-rumped Warblers were down, but I did find a couple of mixed flocks with some nicer birds present. In the pines just north of the west side administration building (main entrance) I located the previously reported “doublet” of Golden-crowned Kinglet Regulus satrapa which were easily located by their high pitched calls. Inquisitive as ever they both came very close to me in the low branches of the pine tree. In the same mixed flock a Brown Creeper Certhia americana also gave me a close pass and played hide-and-seek behind the pine tree trunk in front of me – always nice to see this species! Finally I checked around for “crowned” sparrow flocks but without much success. But a small gathering of sparrows in the far southwest corner of the cemetery did contain a single first-winter White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis which proved quite shy but eventually emerged at some distance for a couple photographs.