Hi Everyone,

I did some bay-watching last night, joined for part of the time by Matt Grey and Ed Carlson. The highlight was scanning the distance and finding a harbor-bound barge with many roosting gull passengers. Among these I felt comfortable identifying an adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL amidst Great Black-backs and Herrings. The barge was across the channel just off Sparrows Point in Baltimore waters, viewed from across from White Rocks.

There were only a handful of FORSTER'S TERNs active yesterday, but they were joined for a while by a juvenile ROYAL TERN. There has been a flock of Laughing Gulls just off the park for the last several days, apparently gorging themselves on small bait fish, which you can observe easily via scope. I also had brief views of a COW-NOSED RAY, which is always enjoyable. Here's the full eBird list.

Canada Goose--7
Double-crested Cormorant--37
Great Blue Heron--2
Great Egret--2; flyovers in late afternoon
Osprey--5
Killdeer--1
Laughing Gull--73; nice flock roosting just off the hawk watch area for the last few days; several juveniles present
Ring-billed Gull--9
Herring Gull (American)--18
Great Black-backed Gull--11
* LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL--1 adult (filed separately on Baltimore list)
Forster's Tern--4
Royal Tern--1 juvenile
Rock Pigeon--4
Mourning Dove--3
Ruby-throated Hummingbird--1
Downy Woodpecker--1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)--1
Eastern Wood-Pewee--2
Eastern Kingbird--2
Blue Jay--1
Fish Crow--1
Purple Martin--9
Barn Swallow--4
Carolina Chickadee--1
Carolina Wren--1
Eastern Bluebird--2
American Robin--5
Northern Mockingbird--2
European Starling--150
Cedar Waxwing--6
Eastern Towhee--1
Chipping Sparrow--1
Northern Cardinal--2
Blue Grosbeak--1
Red-winged Blackbird--5
House Finch--2
American Goldfinch--5
Non-avian: COW-NOSED RAY (1), Eastern Painted and Northern Red-bellied Turtles, Monarch, Orange Sulfur, anglewing sp., Common Green Darner, Wandering Glider, Black Saddlebags, Twelve-spotted Skimmer.

I also posted some tern photos from this weekend, especially close-ups of Sandwich Terns and recently returned Caspian Terns. One juvenile Sandwich Tern photographed is so young that its plumage is hard to find matched in a field guide. Note in particular the amount of yellow in the legs and bill! Pretty cool.

http://www.billhubick.com/new_set.html

Good birding,

Bill

Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland

http://www.billhubick.com