Hi all,

I spent my day on the Eastern Shore trying to catch up with the "y" folks, I
started late due to a wonderful cold, and the many, many fields full of
gulls did not help the situation.  I gave up the chase and ended up spending
most of the day looking through gull flocks along rte 50 for anything
unusual, one flock in Talbot had 7 BONAPARTE'S GULLs flying around, another
in Wicomico had 3 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLs (2 first-cycle,1 adult) and a
NELSON'S GULL (probably the same bird that Ron Gutberlet found the day
before at Salisbury landfill, as this particular flock was only a couple
miles from the landfill). A flock of birds in a field outside of Ocean City
held one adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL among the many others.  I finally
made it to the inlet by late afternoon where I spotted about 10 actively
feeding COMMON EIDERs and 2 HARLEQUIN DUCKs as previously reported.

Photos of the "Nelson's" Gull can be seen at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeycerw/


Good birding!
Mikey Lutmerding
Croom, MD