For those of you who may be in the vicinity of Blackwater Refuge this weekend, be on the lookout for this gull.  It was seen last Friday (the 13th!) by Marcia Balestri, but not relocated over the weekend.  It was with a flock of mostly Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls foraging in the fields along Egypt Road north of Key Wallace.  For all we know it could be in North Carolina by now, but it is certainly worth looking for.  It will be slightly darker in the mantle and midway in size between Herring and Ring-billed Gulls, but with yellow legs.  Many of you probably missed the 1993 bird at the Oaks Landfill in Laytonsville, Montgomery Co.  It shuttled between the landfill and Georgetown Reservoir.  It was a return of the first documented North American record which had been found by Dave Czaplak at Georgetown in the winter of 1990-1991, as I recall.

Photos can be seen at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/BobsShots/Gulls

Good luck!

Paul O'Brien
Rockville, Mont. Co., MD