I'd be interested to learn if anyone at the Ocean City Inlet reports a
SABINE'S GULL this weekend.  I feel quite confident that I had one
there yesterday morning.

My son and I visited the OC inlet and met up with George Jett to see
what might have been blown in by the storm.   I found George out on
the jetty with his camera. We chatted for a bit, and then George was
off  to visit the West OC Ponds.  I spent a brief time scanning the
surf for possible Sooty Terns or maybe even a Jaeger... there were
none to be seen.

Shortly after George started to walk back towards his car, I got on
what I thought was a tern. I did not have my camera with me at the
time (it was waiting for me at Fed Ex, back from the Canon repair
facility).  So when I got back to the car, I quickly drew this sketch:
 http://danhaas.com/sketchSept26.jpg

The bird was flying like a tern, much smaller than the Royal and
Caspian Terns nearby, larger than a Forster's and it was not a
Laughing or a Bonaparte's Gull.

The wing pattern was dark, with a vivid, prominent triangular white on
the inside of the elbows.  It immediately caught my attention. The
bird had a dark gray hood and it was flying slowly North into the
wind, so my views were good.

Just before George arrived back on the scene (I called him on his cell
phone and asked him to come back), a gentlemen came up and asked me if
the channel markers are anchored down and would they ever float away?
I had no answer.  The exchange was just a tad distracting, and during
this gentleman's questioning, the bird appeared to have gone down
behind a wave, and I could not relocate it.

For reference, the bird that I saw yesterday looked very much like the
Sabine's Gull in photo 10.13 page 85 of Peterson's "Gulls of the
America's" (albeit with a more complete hood) and on pg 125 of the
National Wildlife Federation's "Field Guide to Birds of North
America."

Good Birding,

Dan Haas
West Annapolis, MD