Unfortunately I wasn't (laugh!) but have been in same situation before at other sightings -- fortunately for me the 'real thing' was finally found in most cases. Cheers, Kathy Klimkiewicz ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: Gulls, gulls and more gulls Author: mdosprey@ARI.Net at NBS-Internet-Gateway Date: 2/17/98 6:38 PM Kathy Klimkiewicz writes: > That could be a possibility but an even greater one is that > everyone wasn't necessarily looking at the same individual with > so many other gulls in the area. I second that notion, Kathy! The morning Fran and I were at Conowingo, we had the bird pointed out to us...and we watched it and watched it...then after about ten minutes, another bird came along...and the word went out...no, wait...THIS is the right one!...and we watched it and watched it...and (you guessed it) after about another 10 minutes the cry went out again...forget that last one, here is the real deal! Sigh...while it was truly an uplifting experience to see three first-winter Common Gulls in one morning, it certainly did nothing for our life lists nor our confidence in our own abilities to make difficult identifications! I loved Mark Hoffman's objective assessment of the photographs and visual sightings he had of the bird and look forward to seeing some photographs of the bird! I've learned a lot and, maybe, I'll have a better idea of what to look for the next time a squadron of Common Gulls visits Harford County! In the meantime...scratch one life bird. Are you SURE you weren't at the dam that same morning????? Grin... Cheers, Norm =============== Norm Saunders Colesville, MD osprey@ari.net