Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2001 16:53:52 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Hans Holbrook Subject: sightings cont., odd gull MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable 12/28/01 In a flock of Snow Geese, Bob and I found one ROSS' GOOSE, one WHITE-FRON= TED GOOSE, and one 'RICHARDSON'S' CANADA GOOSE. The birds were in a fiel= d near the intersection of Rt. 50 and Rt. 354. We then went towards the = coast and did some owling. Results were 2 WOODCOCK, SAW-WHET OWL, and LO= NG-EARED OWL. A person informed us he had seen a Snowy Owl in the area w= e were in. We heard an owl there that made a long drawn out scream, Sibl= ey describes the snowy call like that, but I don't have it on any tapes. = Hadn't heard anything like it before. 12/29/01 Ocean City inlet had a number of birders early looking for a Little Gull.= I don't think it ever showed up, nor this morning. Did see GREAT CORMO= RANT and a fly-by female EIDER. =20 Jim Brighton joined me for the morning, since Bob had a speaking appointm= ent. We went to 4th Street to look at Skimmer Island. There we found an= odd gull. The bird had a yellow bill with large red spot and a very sma= ll black one. Head and neck were streaked, heavier around the eye. Eye = was light colored. Dark gray mantle, white tail and PINK LEGS! I was st= unned. We watched the bird for well over an hour as it walked around. T= he bird was equel size to the herring gulls, although maybe slight bit mo= re slender. great black-backs and ring-bills were present too. The bird= spent alot of time preening so we had a while to study it. The black on= the wing tips was very limited and through the underneath of the wing we= both saw windows in the primaries. The bird was an adult bird, both Jim and I are sure what it wasn't. But = if anyone has any input please e-mail me. Bob and I tried to relocate the bird in the afternoon and may have seen i= t from quite a distance. By evening the 2 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS and = a fly-by PEREGRINE FALCON were around Skimmer Island. =20 There wasn't much activity at the inlet or any where else this morning, s= o we came on home. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================