Hi Folks,

Having no family obligations for the first time in years, Elaine and I were
able to get out for a few hours this Christmas morning and enjoy the lack of
traffic.  Our one productive stop was at Brighton Dam, on the
Howard/Montgomery county line, where among a few dozen Ring-billed and
Herring Gulls was an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, sitting and then
standing on the ice, close enough to where the slaty mantle and yellow legs
could be viewed with binoculars.  The reservoir is about half open, and the
better part of a thousand Common Mergansers were enjoying the open water,
while the gulls gathered on the ice.  The only other water birds noted were
a dozen or so Hooded Mergansers on the far side, as viewed from the bridge,
and a Belted Kingfisher heard rattling somewhere off in the distance.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all.

Stan Arnold
Glen Burnie