Jeff Shenot and I received written permission to enter the Brown Station Landfill for the Prince George's Mid-Winter Count on January 31.  While there we observed a 1st-cycle Glaucous Gull, a 1st-cycle Kumlien's Gull, and 5 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls.  Conservatively i ncorporating Kevin Graff's numbers, the total on January 31 for the Landfill/Schoolhouse Pond/Depot Ponds  area is 1 Glaucous, 1 Kumlien's, 1 Thayer's and 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls.  These are the most impressive rare gull sightings on this count in many years.  An interesting question is how many did we miss, since  w e were not allowed to get near the active dumping area, which was not clearly visible from any other location.   Thanks to Kevin, Gail, Barry, Nico, and George for their contributions. 



A sidelight of interest is wing-tagged gulls that have been visiting the Brown Station Landfill.  Last winter a tagged Ring-billed Gull at the landfill was found to have been tagged in Chicago in May 2007.  Another tagged Ring-bill found at the landfill on 12/30/08 had been tagged in north central Maine about a month and a half earlier.  In the latter case, the study was motivated by an effort to control the gull population at nearby reservoirs.  During this year's count Jeff and I found another wing-tagged gull, which we will follow up on  as well. 



Sue Ricciardi 

Arnold, MD