Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 20:28:21 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Joel Martin Subject: Re: Little Gulls Continue at Back River MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Morning must be the time to go. I stopped at Back River around 1:00 today after several other mid-day attempts and initially things looked pretty dead below the bridge. Then I peered under the bridge and saw a huge mass of white on the mud flats to the north. I zipped across the road to the fishermans' pulloff described by Gail and was able to view the mostly-roosting flock of about 400 Bonaparte's. Luckily, after a few minutes I was able to pick out a winter adult Little Gull flying back and forth over the flats. Even at 1/4 mile, a very satisfying look. With the sun in my favor it was easy to see those black wing linings against the pale mantle. Also distinctive was the flight style. Based on my field guides I expected the wing beats to be fast and "fluttery." But it was the manner of flight that was fluttery -- kind of like a Bank Swallow in slow motion, with a lot of up-and-down stuff interspersed with low gliding and flapping. I think it's worth going back soon for a (hopefully) better look in the AM. Thanks Gail and everyone for keeping us posted on these neat birds' status. Joel Martin Catonsville, Balto. Co. jcdlmartin@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================