Rare Bird Alert Friday, 16 October 1998 Baton Rouge Audubon Society Rare Bird Alert Area: Baton Rouge and Louisiana statewide Highlights: CORY'S SHEARWEATER * (* Louisiana State Review List) GREATER SHEARWATER * MASKED BOOBY * BROWN BOOBY * RED PHALAROPE * (probable) MOUNTAIN PLOVER ** (possible) (** not on state list) BRIDLED TERN GROOVE-BILLED ANI BUFF-BELLIED HUMMINGBIRD CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD * (presumed gone) RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER * BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK * BULLOCK'S ORIOLE * Others birds mentioned: anhinga american white pelican brown pelican lesser scaup osprey bald eagle cooper's hawk merlin peregrine falcon purple gallinule american coot american golden-plover bonaparte's gull black tern chuck-will's-widow chimney swift scissor-tailed flycatcher white-eyed vireo gray catbird tree swallow cliff swallow golden-crowned kinglet yellow-throated warbler prairie warbler blackpoll warbler common yellowthroat swamp sparrow nelson's sharp-tailed sparrow leconte's sparrow clay-colored sparrow dickcissel indigo bunting bronzed cowbird Transcript: Welcome birders to the BRAS' rare bird alert. The following was recorded on Friday October 16. Highlights include 4 BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS on Whiskey Bay Road, a possible MOUNTAIN PLOVER in Cocodrie, a probable RED PHALAROPE on Lake Pontchartrain in Kenner, 2 GROOVE-BILLED ANIS and a female RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER on Grand Isle and a BULLOCK'S ORIOLE and a BUFF-BELLIED HUMMINGBIRD in LaPlace. The CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD seems to have departed. 2 male and 2 female BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS were seen on Whiskey Bay Road in the Atchafalaya Swamp about a mile north of I-10 on 10/12. A possible MOUNTAIN PLOVER has been reported at the LUMCON station in Cocodrie in Terrebonne Parish on 10/10. There are several ways to get there, so I suggest getting a state map and planning your own route to Thibodaux, where my directions begin. Take LA 20 heading south out of Thibodaux. Around Schiever, LA 20 takes a right turn; continue south on LA 24. LA 24 becomes LA 56 on the outskirts of Houma. Follow LA 56 all the way to Cocodrie, approximately 25 miles. The LUMCON station, a brick structure on pilings, will be on your right. The plover was seen on the lawn on the right side of the building. I haven't been able to check yet whether the public is allowed on the property. A guard was there over the weekend. A female RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER was found on Grand Isle on 10/10 in the woods behind the Sureway Supermarket. As you enter Grand Isle on LA 1, the Sureway will be on your left after the watertower about midway down the island. Besides the distinct red nape patch, a female red-naped sapsucker has a white chin and throat bordered by a bright red lower throat. The bird was last seen in the vicinity of two hackberry trees just south of a little waterhole on the trail at the left of the fire hydrant behind the Sureway. Also 2 GROOVE- BILLED ANIS continue behind the watertower, which is also north of LA 1. A male BULLOCK'S ORIOLE is coming to a feeder in LaPlace since around the end of September. From Airline Hwy in LaPlace, turn north by the McDonald's onto Carrollwood. Go to the second stop sign and turn left onto Concord. Go 1 block and turn right onto Glendale. The oriole and usually some wintering hummingbirds are at the second house on the left (1409 Glendale). I'm not sure which feeder the oriole is coming to, but last year (presumably the same bird), he often approached by first flying into the tall trees behind the house. The male BUFF-BELLIED HUMMINGBIRD continues at 800 Fagot Loop in LaPlace and at least 2 BUFF-BELLIES have shown up in New Orleans. A number of RUFOUS (or at least selasphorus) HUMMINGBIRDS are in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Lafayette and Sulphur. Call if you would like more detailed directions (225-763-6805). 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 10/15: around 6 GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS at Lake Martin in St. Martin Parish; and a possible BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK was reported at the Northlake Nature Center in St. Tammany Parish. Sightings from 10/14: 350 AMERICAN WHITE and about the same number of BROWN PELICANS on Queen Bess Island and over 500 WHITE PELICANS, a BALD EAGLE and a MERLIN on Grand Terre, both in Barataria Bay. Sightings from 10/13: on an LSU Museum pelagic trip, 2 CORY'S and 1 GREATER SHEARWATER, 2 MASKED and 1 BROWN BOOBY, lots of BLACK and 3 BRIDLED TERNS and a PEREGRINE FALCON adorning every rig approached; and GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS in the Kisatchie Natl Forest in Natchitoches Parish. Sightings from 10/12: over 8 OSPREYS, 75+ SWAMP, a NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED and a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW and a late DICKCISSEL at the Crescent Acres dump in New Orleans (unfortunately the area is not open to the public); 2 late PURPLE GALLINULES, a BLACK TERN and 2 SHARP-TAILS behind the Cameron courthouse and 3 OSPREYS and a PEREGRINE FALCON near Holly Beach in Cameron Parish. Sightings from 10/11: 400 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS and 50 SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHERS along the Red River in Caddo Parish; 8 AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS near LeMoyen in St. Landry Parish; a COOPER'S HAWK in Jefferson Davis Parish near Lacassine NWR and a PURPLE GALLINULE at the refuge; and an early SWAMP SPARROW in St. Gabriel. Sightings from 10/10: a probable RED PHALAROPE along the Pontchartrain lakefront just east of the Elmwood Canal in Kenner in Jefferson Parish; a MERLIN, a late PRAIRIE WARBLER and 20 BRONZED COWBIRDS in Kenner; 2 BALD EAGLES, 2 COOPER'S HAWKS and 143 GRAY CATBIRDS near Recovery One in New Orleans east; a COOPER'S, a MERLIN and a PRAIRIE WARBLER in New Orleans; an early GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET heard at Barksdale AFB in Bossier Parish; 2 GOLDEN-CROWNS at Walter Flemming Park in Caddo Parish; 2 OSPREY and 2620 AMERICAN COOT on Cross Lake in Caddo Parish; over 500 WHITE PELICANS, 2 PEREGRINES, a CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW, 48 WHITE-EYED VIREOS and 3 PRAIRIE WARBLERS on Grand Isle; 3 COOPER'S, 2 MERLINS and 2 PEREGRINES around Port Fourchon; 3 ANHINGAS and 71 INDIGO BUNTINGS in St. Gabriel; and an OSPREY, 7 BONAPARTE'S GULLS, over 75 COMMON YELLOWTHROATS, 2 early LECONTE'S SPARROWS and over 100 INDIGO BUNTINGS at the Bonnet Carre Spillway in St. Charles Parish. Sightings from 10/9: an OSPREY, some late CLIFF SWALLOWS and over 50 INDIGO BUNTINGS along the Mississippi River levee in Baton Rouge; a BALD EAGLE in Harahan in Jefferson Parish; 4800 CHIMNEY SWIFTS and 400 TREE SWALLOWS, migrating along the Red River, and 3 early NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED SPARROWS in Caddo Parish; an early LESSER SCAUP and 2 OSPREY on Cross Lake; and a rather late YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER and a rare fall BLACKPOLL WARBLER at the Chalmette Battlefield in St. Bernard Parish. And the spread of EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE continues in Caddo Parish. 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 RARE BIRD ALERT ARCHIVE