Conowingo Dam has something this year that it has not had in many years ---  
GULLS!!!  On December 28, 2008, they were mostly Ring-billed Gulls, as is 
typical of early winter.  If conditions get colder up north, we could see an 
influx of Herring Gulls and with them, the rarer species.  Conowingo is 
definitely worth visiting this winter.

Observations at Conowingo Dam Fisherman's Park
December 28, 2008
0730 - 1700
Weather: AM: cloudy, 55 degrees, S 5 K; PM: cloudy, 66 degrees, W 5 K
Observers: Gene Scarpulla, Don Worley (Warren, PA)
(part of the Rock Run Christmas Bird Count)

*SPECIES OF NOTE

Snow Goose - 1 (white morph)
Canada Goose - 2175 (flyovers heading down river)
American Black Duck - 24
Common Merganser - 8 (flyovers heading down river)
Double-crested Cormorant - 1 (adult)
Great Blue Heron - 11
Black Vulture - 88
Turkey Vulture - 5
Bald Eagle - 22 (13 adult, 9 immature)
Peregrine Falcon - 1 (adult)
Bonaparte's Gull - 3
Ring-billed Gull - 30,000 (20,000 below dam; 10,000 above dam)
Herring Gull - 200
*LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL - 4 (3 adult-winter, 1 first-winter)
Greater Black-backed Gull - 45
Rock Pigeon - 302
Mourning Dove - 18
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 3
Downy Woodpecker - 8
Hairy Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 2
American Crow - 3
Carolina Chickadee - 10
Tufted Titmouse - 9
White-breasted Nuthatch - 2
Brown Creeper - 1
Carolina Wren - 8
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 13
European Starling - 5500
Song Sparrow - 3
White-throated Sparrow - 1
Dark-eyed Junco - 9
Northern Cardinal - 1
American Goldfinch - 2


Gene Scarpulla
Millers Island, Maryland