Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 13:30:46 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Fred Shaffer Subject: Glaucous Gull at Schoolhouse Pond After many months of looking over the large number of gulls at Schoolhouse Pond, I finally turned up a 1st winter Glaucous Gull(!!)among the 1000+ plus other gulls at the Pond. This bird was feeding at the edge of the ice where the one remaining patch of open water is at the pond. The primaries are completely white, as was the rest of the plumage. The bill was heavy and pink, with a black tip. A spectacular bird, slightly larger than the nearby Herring Gulls. I have searched the gulls at Schoolhouse Pond for a Glaucous Gull long and hard without success until today. Regarding gull numbers, I don't know about other areas, but there certainly hasn't been a shortage of gulls at Schoolhouse Pond this winter. Most days probably have 800 or 900 or more (mostly Ring Billed and Herring). Fred Shaffer Patuxent Bird Club fshaffer3@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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================