Ran down to North & Chesapeake Beach today around 10:30 AM -- big mistake on a beautiful Sunday -- way too many humans everywhere, and the tide was high at the North Beach mudflat.  To try to salvage something from the trip, I decided to sit on the rocks at the "crooked i" and count Great Black-backed Gulls on the jetties by the Rod 'n Reel.  The north jetty had 1400, the south jetty had 550.  I obviously couldn't stop at 1950, so I counted how many were in the water.  I managed to find 89 out there.  So, that adds up to 2039.  While counting the jetty birds there were about 5 pilings I couldn't see through that probably hid another 20+ birds.  Also, I could not see the entire south jetty from there, so that is certainly a minimum count.  I wonder if it is a high count for MD?

Danny Bystrak
Bristol, AA Co.