Early this afternoon I visited Depot Pond and Schoolhouse Pond in Upper  
Marlboro, hoping to pick up some of the good gulls reported recently by Fred  
Shaffer and Elaine Hendricks. I stopped first at Depot Pond, where hundreds of  
gulls were roosting on the ice. In the closest group was a pale first-cycle gull 
 that was either a pale Thayer's or dark Kumlein's. The other bird, at the 
far  end of the flock, was a beautiful pale ICELAND (Kumlein's) GULL. The jury's 
 still out on the first bird but on size alone it seems more likely a 
Thayer's.  The primaries, tertials and tail were not as dark as I'd like -- more like 
light  brown. But very nice white chevrons on the primaries. I hope someone 
else can  get a look at this bird. It seemed to have only one leg. There was 
also one  adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL in the flock.
 
From there I went over to Schoolhouse Pond, where I had to stop for a  gaggle 
of domestic geese crossing the road, along with the resident TRUMPETER  SWAN. 
The pond had only a couple hundred RING-BILLED and a few dozen HERRING  
GULLS. Also 4 SHOVELERS, 1 PINTAIL, and 2 WOOD DUCK among the Mallards.
 
While packing up at Schoolhouse Pond I, got a call from Keith Costley about  
the WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS he had found at Druid Ridge Cemetery in Baltimore  
County. The traffic lights on Route 3 were kind to me as I hurried up to 
Druid  Ridge, where I ran into Steve Sanford and Pete Webb. They had already seen 
the  crossbill flock several times. After a few minutes I was fortunate enough 
to see  3 of the birds, females, fly out of the hemlock row and into the top 
of a Leland  cypress for dim but identifiable views.
 
Hopefully all of these birds will be around for a while.
 
Joel Martin
Catonsville, MD
 (mailto:[log in to unmask])  
**************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy 
steps! 
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1215855013x1201028747/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072%26hmpgID=62%26bcd=De
cemailfooterNO62)