Rare Bird Alert Tuesday, 29 September, 1998 Baton Rouge Audubon Society Rare Bird Alert Area: Baton Rouge and Louisiana statewide Highlights: GROOVE-BILLED ANI BUFF-BELLIED HUMMINGBIRD CLAY-COLORED SPARROW Others birds mentioned: magnificent frigatebird mississippi kite merlin eurasian collared-dove rufous hummingbird lark sparrow Transcript: Welcome birders to the BRAS' rare bird alert. The following was recorded on Tuesday September 29. Highlights include a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW and GROOVE- BILLED ANI in New Orleans and a BUFF-BELLIED HUMMINGBIRD in LaPlace. A CLAY-COLORED SPARROW and a GROOVE-BILLED ANI were found on 9/24 by Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans in an area known as Bucktown. Both were also seen again on 9/25. To look for the birds, take I-10 to I-610. Exit I-610 at West End/Canal Blvd (first exit after the split with I-10), just as you cross from Metairie into New Orleans. Go north on West End towards the lake a few miles. You'll pass several lights. At the light for Robert E Lee, turn left onto Lee, stay in the right lane and immediately bear right, following Old Hammond Hwy. After a few blocks, you'll cross a bridge over the 17th St Canal into Bucktown. Look for R&O's Restaurant on the left after about a block. Park at the base of the levee on your right. The sparrow was approximately 100 yards west of the paved pathway leading to the peninsula, just past where a paved pathway begins next to the shore. The sparrow was in the first group of trees on your left and in the weeds and bushes along the shoreline between the trees and the beginning of the pathway. The ani was also seen in the weeds close to where the paved pathway begins and in the pine trees along a backyard fence on the other side of the levee. The BUFF-BELLIED HUMMINGBIRD that has been coming to LaPlace for 6 years is back. Take Airline Hwy to LaPlace and turn south on Elm Street just past the Billy Hart Restaurant. The buffy is at 800 Fagot Loop, which is the northwest corner of Elm and Fagot Loop. He likes the feeders in the back. Also a number of RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS are in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Lafayette. Call if you would like directions. My number is at the end of this message. Migration reports are still coming in, but I only mention ones that constitute late or early dates, high numbers or are unusual for the locale. Sightings from 9/28: 2 MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRDS in Baton Rouge along the Mississippi River near the LSU campus. Sightings from 9/27: a EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE in Bossier Parish in NW LA. Sightings from 9/25: a MERLIN in Caddo Parish in NW LA. Sightings from 9/24: 2 LARK SPARROWS at the clay-colored site in Bucktown; and a late MISSISSIPPI KITE in Lafayette. Thanks for calling the Baton Rouge rare bird alert and good birding. Compiler: Karen Fay Home phone # : 225-763-6805 RBA phone # : 225-768-9874 Email address: lamskite@aol.com