Drawn out of the state to the north whose name may not be mentioned by 
discussions with Sean McCandless of interesting gulls, including 
Thayer's and possible Thayer's Gulls, I went to the NorthEast Town Park 
with Anthony Gonzon a bit after 12:30 today.  There were very roughtly 
1000 Gulls spread around on the ice, with a few still coming from the 
direction of the Cecil Dump.  Shoving aside the begging Mallards we 
scanned the flock, eventually finding 1 Glaucous Gull, 3-4 Iceland 
Gulls, and 5-6 or more Lesser Black-backed Gull.  Finally we found a 
bird a bit dark to be an Iceland and way too light to be a Herring.  
After some time with the new Olsen/Larsson Gull book and having watched 
the bird in flight, we felt reasonably satisfied with calling it a 
first-winter Thayer's Gull. 

Eventually a Bald Eagle flew over and spooked all the Gulls.  Although 
the birds had flown around several times, this time they mostly did not 
settle down especially close to us, which we took to be a good excuse to 
go back home.

This is a very pleasant and easy place to work over winter gulls. We 
also had a Great Blue Heron about 30 feet from our observing position.  
If I had had one with me, I could have thrown it a fish.  It may have 
been hoping I would.

-- 
Maurice Barnhill 
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Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716