Elayne - Least Terns do nest on flat roofs. This is discussed in the Atlas. I think I was told that on Kent Island, for example, the nesting is exclusively on flat roof tops. I also see in the Atlas that Least Tern breeding was confirmed in the middle-western block of the "Middle River" quadrangle, this looks like it's pretty close to White Marsh (?). Phil PS - Didn't get to call back on the "light" Bufflehead ... ever figure out what you had? At 04:52 PM 06/20/1998 -0400, you wrote: >We just came back from our morning's trip to see the Whitemarsh Least Terns. We >saw a total of six birds in the hour we spent there. An unusual behavior was >that after a bird would catch a fish it would leave the area for a period of >time. We weren't sure where the birds went, however we wondered if there weren't >nests on top of the flat roofs of the nearby buildings, much in the way that >Killdeer have adapted to parking lots and buildings. Any thoughts? > Does anybody know if that pond is staying or are 6 birds not enough to >protect it? > We would like to thank Bob Ringler for making MDOsprey aware that these >birds are around the neighborhood and quite easy to see. > Elayne Metter > Catonsville, MD > Metterj@grc.nia.nih.gov > ================================================ Phil Davis home: PDavis@ix.netcom.com Davidsonville, Maryland USA work: PDavis@OAO.com Greenbelt, Maryland USA ================================================