This morning Tom Field and I set out to chase down all the Black-headed Gull
reports made over the past few days.  We did not succeed.

We began at Centennial in Howard, where June's Black-headed, as well as
Bonaparte's had long since departed. The swallow show was impressive, with
Rough-winged, Tree and Barn.  The Red-necked Grebe was still present, plus
two Pied-Billeds, 2 Ring-necked Ducks, and one male Bufflehead.

A stop at Wilde Lake to look for a Bonaparte's seen earlier that day brought
no joy.  There were at least three Double-crested Comorants.  Kittamaqundi
was devoid of interest.  We didn't check Elkhorn.

On to Back River.  There were lots of Bonaparte's below the bridge on
Eastern Avenue.  Plus a few cormorants.  A trip up Diamand Pt. Rd. yielded
up a birder with scope comin out the weeds, who assured us that after 45
minutes of study, he could not trick out anything of interest.

North we went to Port Deposit.  Here there quite a few gulls, mostly
distant, and mostly Bonapate's, with a few Ring-bills, and somewhat more
Great Black-backed.  After about an hour, we finally tricked out one,
possibly two, Little Gulls.  The black underwings stood out very nicely.  We
had them in view maybe 15 minutes, but did not relocate.  The numbers of
swallows were breath-taking.  Also seen were two Osprey and 1 Bald Eagle
(immature, but with a whitish tail).

We finished up at Lapidum Landing in HarCo, but saw nothing new.

The wind was brutal, and appears to have intensified since we got home!
Intermittant rain added to the joy and comfort.

But it was a most fun, if frosty, day.  Thanks to Bob and Matt for the
directions.  We found both sites with no problem at all.

Kurt Schwarz
HowCo
goawaybird <at> comcast <dot> net