I was pretty rushed (and excited) when I made my earlier post, and I'll try
to put my notes into a more coherent form here.  Obviously, Jim's photos
will be much more revealing about the gull then anything that I could
describe, and will hopefully confirm the identification of the gull one way
or the other.  My notes about the gull were:

Viewing conditions were ideal.  I watched the bird for 10 or 15 minutes at
close range.  The wind had pushed all of the remaining ice up against the
shore closest to Governor Oden Bowie Drive, and most of the gulls
(including the gull in question) were within 50 or 100 feet of where we
stood.  Sunlight was bright and views were unobstructed.

It had a heavy, all black bill.  It had a whitish head, with a sloping
forehead.  The head had some darker streaking.  The bill shape and head
shape both ruled out a Lesser Black-backed Gull.

The size was what I first noticed about the bird.  It was standing among
some Ring-billed Gulls when I first saw it, and was larger, but not nearly
as large as what I would expect from a Great Black-backed.  It did
not "loom" over the surrounding Ringers like a Great Black-backed does. The
bird appeared slightly smaller to me then nearby Herring Gulls.
Admittedly, it is tough to estimate size (and there is a lot of variation
in the size of gulls), but I do not believe I have every seen a Great Black-
backed Gull so small.

The mantle and scapulars were mostly pale, with none of the dark barring or
markings that you would expect with a 1st winter Great Black-backed Gull.
The bird appear mostly pale on the mantle scapulars and coverts.  Again,
I've never seen a Great Black-backed Gull with these features. The
primaries and tertials were a washed out dark to medium brown.

Again, Jim got some great photos of the bird at rest and with wings
extended.  It had a pale "window" on the mid and inner primaries, and Jim
got a good closeup of the wingtips.

The birds then flushed, and I had to go inside.  As far as I know, it has
not been relocated.  Hans Holbrook was unable to find it, and when I left
for the day, most of the gulls were gone.  The first winter Iceland Gull
was also beautiful, but much easier to figure out.

Fred Shaffer
Patuxent MOS