The Common Moorhen continues at Schoolhouse Pond.  As before, I saw the bird with the Wood Ducks in the vegetation at the back of the pond during my lunchtime walk.  It only stuck its head and bill briefly into view while I was watching before disappearing from sight.  Also present was a Great Egret, several Great Blue Herons, and a Double-crested Cormorant.

I also had an unusual flyover Laughing Gull.  The bird was flying over the pond with an adult Laughing Gull heading in the direction of the Brown Station Road landfill.  In appearance, it looked to be an otherwise normal adult Laughing Gull in mostly breeding plumage except that it had entirely dark underwings.  As it was flying immediately next to an adult Laughing Gull, I was able to get some quick side-by-side comparisons.  Unlike the adult Laughing Gull (which had only dark primaries and slaty gray remiges beneath, with the underwing coverts being white), this bird had entirely dark underwings.  This included the underwing coverts, secondaries and primaries, giving the underwing an all dark appearance a lot like an adult Little Gull.  However, I saw nothing else in the bird's plumage or structure to indicate that it was anything but an unusual adult Laughing Gull.  I don't believe I've ever seen a Laughing Gull with this pattern underwing before.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a photo before the two gulls disappeared from view.

Fred Shaffer

Crofton, Anne Arundel