In response to Marcia's post: Peter Frechtel and I observed a similar gull spectacle at the Ocean City Inlet on the night of Feb. 3.  We drove out that evening to stay in Ocean City prior to birding the inlets the next day, but we took a quick spin to the inlet in the dark and witnessed a similar gathering of gulls (as far as we could tell, all ring-bills, too).  Pretty neat, though I'd forgotten about it until reading this.

I should probably keep my mouth shut, but on the Columbia Common Yellowthroat posting--Jay Keller is a frequent poster on that list-serv across the river, and presumably knows what he's talking about.  Let's not be clique-ish, now.  Wintering yellowthroats may normally be coastal, but as I read the yellow book, they aren't that rare.  So it doesn't seem especially odd that one could stray a bit to Columbia in a winter like this.

Jason Waanders
NW DC
jwaandersATstarpower.net