------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- From: owner-mdosprey@ARI.Net Date sent: Sat, 2 Jan 1999 19:37:23 -0500 (EST) To: owner-mdosprey@ARI.Net Subject: BOUNCE mdosprey@ARI.Net: Non-member submission from [Gail Mackiernan <gail@mdsg.umd.edu>] Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1999 19:37:47 -0500 To: mdosprey@ari.net From: Gail Mackiernan <gail@mdsg.umd.edu> Subject: Gull bonanza at Patuxent WR Hi all! There were a lot of gulls, and birders too, at the Patuxent Wildlife Ctr's Vistor's Center today. We arrived around noon, there were probably about 2000 gulls on the mostly frozen lake. Folks already there had picked out a first winter Glaucous and a first-winter Iceland so we quickly set up our scopes. We scanned and soon saw them -- until we all realized we were looking at different birds! A more careful count by everyone tallied -- three Glaucous and two Iceland gulls, all apparent first winter, as well as two adult Lesser Blackbacked Gulls. Wow!! Since an adult Iceland and a probable third-year Iceland have also been seen in the vicinity within the last week, the number of white-winged gulls around the Sandy Hill Landfill in Glenn Dale, MD. is impressive. After the inevitable Bald Eagle came along at about 1:00 and scared many of the gulls away, we did the rounds of other local spots, including the pond at Hanover Pky and Greenbelt Lake, and although both had far numbers of Herring and Ringbilled Gulls, no unusual species were located. There still were gulls on the landfill, but they are hard to observe except in flight due to the terrain. Anyway, a good time was had by all! Gail Mackiernan and Barry Cooper gail@umdd.umd.edu =============== Norm Saunders Colesville, MD osprey@ari.net