Danny, 

   Jan Reese has reported over 3,000 Great Black-backs at Poplar Island during August 2008 and August 2009 

Bob Ringler 
Eldersburg MD 
 



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "danny bystrak" <> 
To:  
Sent: Sunday, August 30, 2009 8:29:57 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: [MDOSPREY] Gret Black-back count at Ches. Beach 

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.