Yellow-bellied Sapsucker discovery – Point Loma

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2013] – I found this first winter male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Sphyrapicus varius at the junction of Silvergate Ave. and Warner St. in Point Loma. In the cool temperatures and windless conditions today I could hear about every bird movement and leaf falling from the trees. Sure enough, a crackly sound overhead quickly revealed this sapsucker looking down at me from a pepper tree. After some hide-and-seek photography it then moved off to a mostly leafless maple tree (how convenient!) before flying away. Usually sapsuckers give me the runaround, but this one played friendly for the “flaparazzi”! This is a first winter male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and it appears very characteristic for this species at this time of year. It retains extensive golden spangled juvenile feathers on the nape and much of the back of the bird, kind of forming a brown back panel. These juvenile feathers would be replaced by adult feathers (black blotched with white) in any age or sex Red-naped Sapsucker at this calendar date. It also shows no sign of red feathering anywhere in the nape. On the bright red throat the black border appears wide and continuous as a frame running to the black chest band. Winter birds seem to have increased a bit in numbers in this neighborhood, just around the corner I also found two new Golden-crowned Kinglets and a Brown Creeper!