I was scoping out the Chesapeake Biological Lab's pier this afternoon around 4:00. There was a nice assortment of gulls and as I was making a first pass counting the Laughing Gulls first, I noticed an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. The school bus yellow legs were the first thing that caught my eye then I compared the mantle with the nearby Great Black-backs and it was obviously paler. It's a smaller bird and more tapered/slender. The head was mostly white with a prominent dark smudge through the eye. Not sure if it'll stick around the pier but it's a great loafing place for gulls so why not? Not a tremendous rarity like the Black-tailed Godwit in DE but a nice bird for southern Maryland.
If you're not familiar with the location, drive down the road through Solomons Island, past the Tiki Bar then right at the traffic circle. The pier is pretty obvious. It was out about 3/4 of the way to the end.
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Tyler Bell
<jtylerbell...>
California, Maryland
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