>There were three of us there on Saturday when the gull was found, but the one >who found the Slaty-backed Gull, giving the old "Get on this bird," was Rick >Blom. > >THANK YOU RICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! > >Mary Ann Todd >Dave Czaplak Yeah, yeah. There are few folks so adept at tooting their own horn as I am, but the truth is I did not have the foggiest notion what I was looking at and fully expected Dave and Mary Ann to tell me it was "just a...". If I had been alone none of you would have ever heard of this bird and it would have gone into the mental files as another bird at Conowingo I could not identify (there are hundreds). It was Mary Ann, or Dave, or both, who first raised the possibility that this was a Slaty-backed, a bird I have neevr seen and wouldn't know if it landed on me. Enough of this already...it was at best a cooperative effort (and that gives me more credit than I deserve). And it was Dave who, while we were watching the bird. suddenly said "HOLY (typical birder expletive deleted), that's a CALIFORNIA GULL next to it!" That was a moment that'll stick with me a while. Rick "A great many people now reading and writing would be better employed keeping rabbits." Edith Sitwell Rick Blom rblom@blazie.com 4318 Cowan Place Belcamp, Maryland 21017 (410)575-6086