Hello all, I'm wondering if anyone has any comments on the status of Least Tern in the Upper Bay. I started keeping county lists in 1988 and it took me about 6 years to get Least Tern in Anne Arundel County (they used to nest at Sandy Point but not since the late 1970s). Eventually I had one while boating in the Central Bay, but after that didn't get another that I can remember until 1997. That year they suddenly appeared at Bay Ridge and Hillsmere Beachand over that summer I sometimes would see 10-15 in a quick visit to Bay Ridge. Common Terns similarly were rare around Annapolis in summer (Forster's and Royal have always been regular in my experience) but appeared suddenly in 1997. I was not around last summer but this year I find that is still the case and had a surprising 17 today at Hillsmere Beach (where my high in 1997 was four I think). Among them were 8 young that the adults were feeding along with 7 Common Terns (and 20 Forster's and 2 Royals). I attribute the Common Tern increase to a fairly new colony on the Bodkin Islands in Queen Anne's County, but where are the Least Terns coming from. They have nested at Kent Narrows in numbers since the mid-1980s at least, and back in 1990 I was seeing them regularly on THAT side of the Bay Bridge. Could they be breeding around Annapolis somewhere or are we jus seeing birds dispersing from the other side of the Bay. Similarly, North Tract at Patuxent WRC has been getting Least Terns each summer and now Dave Mozurkewich is seeing them at Greenbelt. Surely they are nesting somewhere in that vicinity also. I'd be interested in any theories or ideas as to where birds near Annapolis might nest. Finally I was wondering if anyone else had noticed the Great Black-backed Gull colony at the island at the base of the southeast support on the Bay Bridge. I have seen suspicious looking GBB Gulls there for 3 years now and while I haven't taken a boat out there yet, I have fairly certain that the 20 or so pairs there have been nesting there. Best, Marshall Iliff miliff@aol.com