Rare Bird Alert Friday, 25 September 1998 Baton Rouge Audubon Society Rare Bird Alert for Baton Rouge and the state of Louisiana. Compiler: Karen Fay Home phone # : 225-763-6805 RBA phone # : 225-768-9874 Email address: lamskite@aol.com Highlights: SABINE'S GULL*(Louisiana Bird Records Committee review list) (probably gone) GROOVE-BILLED ANI BUFF-BELLIED HUMMINGBIRD CLAY-COLORED SPARROW BRONZED COWBIRD Others birds mentioned: osprey bald eagle long-billed dowitcher eurasian collared-dove rufous hummingbird gray-cheeked thrush purple martin palm warbler (western type) lark sparrow Transcript: Welcome birders to the BRAS' rare bird alert.  The following was recorded on Friday September 25.  Highlights include a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW, GROOVE-BILLED ANI and BRONZED COWBIRDS in New Orleans, SABINE'S GULLS in Red River Parish 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.  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 at 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, very close to where a paved pathway begins next to the shore.  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. For those of you who do not live near New Orleans and are not regularly treated to sightings of a different cowbird, 50 BRONZED COWBIRDS were seen feeding in a vacant lot around 4:30 pm in Lakeview, a suburb of New Orleans, on 9/20.  Only spotty observations have been made; the lot was empty 2 hours later.  Lakeview is just west of City Park (surrounded by Lake Ponchartrain, Wisner Blvd, I-610 and Ponchartrain Blvd, NESW respectively - refer to a city map of New Orleans).  The lot is on General Diaz St.  Look for Lakeview Fine Foods on the corner of Harrison Ave and Gen Diaz as you're heading north on Harrison towards Lake Ponchartrain.  Other, possibly more reliable, locations include Lafrenier Park (south of I-10 near the Veterans Blvd exit) and the Audubon Park golf course or the riverview area behind Audubon Park Zoo.  2 juvenile SABINE'S GULLS were at Lock and Dam # 4 on the Red River in Red River Parish as late as 9/18.  Unfortunately they were not seen on 9/19 or 9/20 despite an exhaustive search.  If you would like to check it out anyway, take I-49 north past Alexandria.  Exit at Ajax/ Lake End on LA 174 near milemarker 154.  Head east on LA 174 for about 5 miles until it ends at LA 1. Turn left on LA 1 and head north for about ¼ mile and turn right just past the brown sign that says Lock and Dam # 4.  The gulls were seen flying over several stone revetments where the road begins paralleling the river.    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 (at least I think it's still there).  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 beginning 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 9/24:  2 LARK SPARROWS at the clay-colored site in Bucktown.  Sightings from 9/21:  a late PURPLE MARTIN in New Orleans.  Sightings from 9/20:  250 EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES behind the Audubon Park Zoo in New Orleans.  Sightings from 9/19:  a PALM WARBLER and an adult BALD EAGLE  in Jefferson Parish; 3 OSPREYS and a LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER along the Red River in NW LA; and a GRAY- CHEEKED THRUSH in St. Gabriel.  Thanks for calling the Baton Rouge rare bird alert and good birding. RARE BIRD ALERT ARCHIVE