This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0040_01BE99AF.93211D20 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hey all, I was birding in western and southwestern Frederick County today during = the May Count. Specifically, my team began the day walking a three mile = stretch of the C & O Canal between Point of Rocks and Lander Road and = spent the rest of the day canvassing the farm country between I-70 and = US 340. We wound up with 114 species of birds including 23 species of = warblers. The two highlight species were a pair of HORNED GREBE (one in = breeding plumage the other in transition) on the Potomac River about = one half mile downstream of Lander Road and a first summer FRANKLIN'S = GULL in a plowed field southeast of the intersection of Gapland Road and = Catholic Church Road (DeLorme map page 55, 3A). The Franklin's Gull was = associating with 42 Ring-billed Gulls (adults and immatures) in the = field, eating bugs off the ground and hawking them in the air over the = field. For about an hour we had close looks at the bird perched on the = ground and in the air. The darker mantled, hooded gull was noticably = smaller than the Ring-billed Gulls with which it associated. The plumage = was most like that of a first summer bird, as the hood was somewhat = incomplete (white flecking on the face) and the white bar at the base of = the primaries was not prominent (a hint of the bar was, however, still = visible). The bird had distinct white tips to the primaries, prominent = eye crescents, and a less substantial bill than on a Laughing Gull. Both = the grebe and the gull were county firsts for us; the gull also being a = state first. All in all a great day of birding. What a difference a week = of makes! David R. Smith ------=_NextPart_000_0040_01BE99AF.93211D20 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN">