Hello to all.  We finally have some real winter, to look for winter birds with!

I did 6 sites of the annual Patuxent River waterbird count this morning, all near 
Jug Bay from 7:30-10:30.  This count is organized by Jug Bay Wetland 
Sanctuary.  I don't know how many miles the survey is, but I think it is most 
of the river's tidal length.  I was hoping to get the Iceland gull that was seen 
yesterday in Upper Marlboro and reported by Fred (at Schoolhouse Pond).

No luck finding it, but there was no shortage of gulls.  I had about 1200 each 
of Herring and Ringers, with one Great black-backed, and best of all was an 
adult Bonaparte's.

"Waterbirds" seen during count:

Pied-billed Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Tundra Swan
Canada Goose
Mallard
Black Duck
Northern Pintail
Wood Duck
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Hooded Merganser
Wilson's Snipe
Killdeer
Herring gull
Ring-billed Gull
Great black-backed Gull
Bonaparte's Gull

Also of interest (additional birds seen after count) same area:
Northern Harrier (afternoon)
Lesser Black-backed Gull (afternoon, 1 adult)
Great Black-backed Gull (afternoon, 1 immature)

This afternoon I saw an immature bald eagle swoop at an immature herring gull 
repeatedly, and the gull would either dive, flap a lot in place, or fly a short 
distance.   In any case, the eagle could easily have taken the gull on any 
swoop, but never did.  I wondered if the gull was injured, but it didn't seem to 
be.  It was very odd - as if the eagle was practicing, and this lasted about 3-
4 minutes.  I saw it swoop about 15 times, but then they drifted to a spot 
where I could not see through the trees.

I will keep looking at the gulls here this week, and post if I find anything 
uncommon.

Cheers!
Jeff Shenot
Croom MD