This is the report from Conowingo Dam for November 1, 1998. Coverage was from 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Windy, partly cloudy, light generation. Observers were Rick Blom and Gene Scarpulla. Red-throated Loon 1 (above dam) Common Loon 3 (above dam) Pied-billed Grebe 2 (above dam) Double-crested Cormorant 20 (most above dam) Great Blue Heron 100 Canada Goose 2 Green-winged Teal 3 (above dam) American Black Duck 4 (above dam) Mallard 18 Gadwall 6 (above dam) Ring-necked Duck 1 (above dam: arrival) BLACK SCOTER 32 (above dam) Black Vulture 40 Turkey Vulture 50 Osprey 1 Bald Eagle 15 (4 ad, 12 imm) Sharp-shinned Hawk 6 Red-tailed Hawk 5 American Coot 1 Killdeer 1 Laughing Gull 1 (2nd winter) Bonaparte's Gull 300 (above dam) Ring-billed Gull 3500 (most above dam) Herring Gull 100 Great Black-backed Gull 50 Forster's Tern 25 (above dam) Rock Dove 75 Mourning Dove 2 Belted Kingfisher 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Blue Jay 5 American Crow 2 crow sp. 50 Tufted Titmouse 1 Carolina Wren 1 Winter Wren 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 American Robin 25 Northern Mockingbird 1 Cedar Waxwing 6 European Starling 100 Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 Northern Cardinal 5 Red-winged Blackbird 3 Common Grackle 1 American Goldfinch 2 There were at least 3,000 gulls feeding over the river above the dam, many at the mouth of Glen Cove, too far away to identify except to say that many were Ring-billed. The Black Scoters were on the river within a half-mile of the dam. There appeared to be a steady hawk flight moving upriver along the Cecil side and when we scanned we consistently found birds, but we spent only a little time looking for hawks. 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 4318 Cowan Place Belcamp, Maryland 21017 (410)575-6086