Once again, snowy, icy, and wet conditions seem to bring out the rare gulls at 
Schoolhouse Pond.  Today's highlight was a first winter Iceland Gull, perhaps 
the same extremely pale gull that was present at the pond from December 6 - 
8.  The bird was washing in some open water at the rear of the pond.  Also 
present were 4 Great Black-backed Gulls (1 adult, 1 3rd winter, 2 1st winter), 
146 Herring Gulls, and 83 Ring-billed Gulls.  With ice forming on the pond, 
hopefully this will mean big numbers of gulls over the coming days.

Fred Shaffer
Patuxent MOS