Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 11:21:07 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Jane Kostenko Subject: Kelp Gull, St. Mary's County, MD, (YES) Update 2/29/00 Comments: To: WV Hotline , Voice of the Naturalist , Paul Baicich , PAbirds , NARBA , Maryland SMAS , Laurie Larson , birdchat , bbc , Armas Hill MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Having seen the Kelp Gull at least once every month for a year now, in every kind of weather, and in every daylight hour, I figured the only new thing to do was see it on Leap Day. And so I did. Standing on the long pier off the Sea Breeze Restaurant, the Kelp Gull was looking fabulous this morning, February 29, 2000, between 8:30 and 9 a.m. Only one Ring-billed Gull shared the pier with it, and the Kelp Gull spent a lot of time soaring in the still-strong winds (whitecaps on the river). In keeping with Leap Day, the Kelp Gull flew over to the beach on the side of the restaurant and leapt and splashed in the pounding surf. It took after a RBGU once, just to keep in shape, I suppose. There is no flecking left on its pure white head. The white terminal band visible on its folded wings is well over an inch wide, and all the feathers are fresh. What a fine sight on this extra day of the year! Jane Kostenko jkostenko@somd.lib.md.us California, Maryland Yesterday is history; tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why they call it the PRESENT. ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================