Inland miscellanea (Brewer's Sparrows, B&W Warbler, WW Dove, etc)

This morning (Sep 13), around 10:30am, I found a pair of BREWER'S SPARROWS at Town Center Community Park in Santee.  They were working the weedy scrub along the wooden fence line at the far SW edge of the soccer fields, mixed in with the many House Finches and SB Munias, as well as a young Lazuli Bunting and handfuls of newly arrived Savannah Sparrows.  Other migrant activity seemed low, just a few Western Tanagers and OC Warblers.

On Fri morning (Sep 11) at Santee Lakes, I had a WHITE-WINGED DOVE fly across the lakes, adding to the fall glut of this species.  Duck diversity and numbers at Santee Lakes has increased markedly in the past couple of weeks, with a few Am Wigeon, BW Teals, and RN Ducks showing up this week, along with increasing numbers of N Shovelers, Gadwalls and Cinnamon Teals.

On Tue afternoon (Sep 8) I found a rare inland juvenile SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER in a small muddy drainage in Santee (where Forester Creek passes under Mission Gorge Rd).  The previous day I had a SOLITARY SANDPIPER in the same spot.  The SBDO ended up hanging around for four days (9/8 through 9/11).

On Thurs morning (Sep 10) I had my only good songbird migration morning of the fall so far, with a micro-fallout at Harry Griffen Park in La Mesa (the park looks very promising for later this fall as the eucs along the S and SE edges are extremely lerpy).  The highlight was a BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, which I assume was a random migrant and not the same bird which has wintered in the park several years in a row.  I found it moving with a decent flock of 15-20 warblers, which was about 1/2 Orange-crowned, 1/4 Yellow, and then a few each of Wilson's, Nashville and BT Gray, as well as a single Warbling Vireo. 

Besides that one morning, it's been quite dead so far in inland San Diego for songbird migrants, other than decent numbers of Orange-crowned.  Scattered sightings of Laz Bunting, Western Tanager, Wilson's Warbler, WW Pewee.  Barn Swallows have been cruising overhead here and there in small scattered groups around Lake Murray and the SD River, I also had a pair of Vaux's Swifts along the SD River in Mission Trails with a mix of WT Swifts and swallows.

And finally, a bit of frustration.  I've had two "probably PURPLE MARTIN" flyovers the past few days, one on Thu (Sep 8) near dusk over Lake Murray, and another yesterday morning (Sep 12) over the SD River by the San Diego Mission.  I've had my sensors up for this species since I know they are pouring through right now, but both individuals only gave me brief, unsatisfactory looks.  Since I'm only ~75% sure about these sightings, I did not log them to eBird.

Eitan Altman

San Carlos