Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 22:29:41 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Bill Etter Subject: Help wanted: Lesser Black-backed Gull survey this weekend MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Greetings, I'm looking for some help! This winter, many Delaware Valley birders = have been conducting an on-going survey of our regional population of = Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Surveys take place on the 2nd Saturday of = each month. We're planning to give it another shot this coming weekend. So far, the vast majority of our data has come from the Philadelphia = area. Lesser Black-backeds are seasonally common and sometimes abundant = at several locations just north of Philly. However...the recent severe = temps have frozen many of the more reliable roosting spots for the = gulls. They're still around, but a bit tough to find lately. I've noticed more reports of late from Delaware, Maryland and DC, which = may indicate that some of the Philadelphia area population has wandered = south. I'm hoping that birders across the region will keep an eye open = for Lesser Black-backs this coming weekend and make a point to report = what they find. When possible, please note ages. I'd be particularly = interested in reports from trips to any of the landfills. The upper = Chesapeake region seems particularly promising...if anyone has anything = at the Cecil landfill or on the Kent Co Midwinter Count this weekend, = **please** send a report! Recent results of this survey have been mixed. Our best count thus far = occurred on 13 Dec 2003, when 213 Lessers were found...a probable high = count for North America. The true size of the North American wintering = LBBG population remains anyone's guess, but this total can almost = certainly be topped. Hoping to learn something new here!! Any help in = this effort will be greatly appreciated! Please report any Lesser Black-backed Gulls seen on Saturday Feb 14th, = or Sunday Feb 15th! Thanks! Bill Etter Perkasie, PA Bucks County =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 =========================================================================