Spent five hours at Conowingo Dam today. There were about 1,000 gulls. Among the usual loiterers there was an adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED, a 1st winter GLAUCOUS, and a gorgeous adult ICELAND (KUMLEIN'S). The Peregrine Falcon was about in the morning and there were about 12 BALD EAGLES. 20 TUNDRA SWANS flew over. There was no evidence of the Common Gull, but there were two different 1st winter Ring-billed Gulls that would have been easily mistaken for the Common Gull by an unwary observer. There was also a report of a Golden Eagle - ignore it. The observers were looking at a Black Vulture and were not interested in being corrected. We stopped trying after a few seconds. In addition, since January 17 there has been an adult MERLIN at Sparrows Point in Baltimore County. I have seen it three times from the Beltway (I-695) about one mile east of the Key Bridge. The bird is fond of sitting on one of the string of four telephone (not light) poles along the highway. Rick "Everywhere I go I'm asked if the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher." Flannery O'Connor Rick Blom rblom@blazie.com Bel Air, Maryland