This report covers three days at Conowingo Dam. On Friday, November 13, I spent four hours above and below the dam in the afternoon. The highlights were: Common Loon 3 Pied-billed Grebe 5 Double-crested Cormorant 10 Tundra Swan 154 [flyovers, arrival: 3 flocks over my house in Belcamp the night of Wednesday, Nov. 11] Mallard 100 American Black Duck 25 Green-winged Teal 1 Bufflehead 64 Osprey 1 Bald Eagle 9 [2 adult; 7 imm] Forster's Tern 15 On Saturday, November 14, I spent most of the day above and below the dam with Gene Scarpulla. As noted in an earlier post, the highlight was an adult Franklin's Gull. Others birds: Common Loon 4 Pied-billed Grebe 5 Double-crested Cormorant 4 Great Blue Heron 40 BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON 2 [1st in several months] Tundra Swan 30 Canada Goose 50 Mallard 100 American Black Duck 25 Green-winged Teal 4 Northern Pintail 1 [male] American Wigeon 6 Gadwall 10 Canvasback 1 Oldsquaw 1 Bufflehead 30 Hooded Merganser 1 [female] Common Merganser 4 [female: arrival] Turkey Vulture 40 Black Vulture 60 Red-tailed Hawk 1 Osprey 1 Bald Eagle 15 [3 ad; 12 imm] American Coot 35 Killdeer 7 COMMON SNIPE 2 [2nd record for dam] FRANKLIN'S GULL 1 [winter adult, below dam] Bonaparte's Gull 50 Ring-billed Gull 500 Herring Gull 25 Great Black-backed Gull 50 Gull sp: 1000 [well upriver] Forster's Tern 3 Winter Wren 5 [2 singing] On Sunday, November 15, I returned to the dam with Bryan Monk and Paul O'Brien. We were there from 9:00 a.m. - about 3:30 p.m. We did not look above the dam. There was no Franklin's Gull. Highlights include: Double-crested Cormorant 7 Great Blue Heron 30 Canada Goose, Mallard, Black Duck as before Green-winged Teal 6 American Wigeon 3 Pintail 2 Gadwall 6 Common Merganser 1 [male] Vultures and red-tail as before Bald Eagle 17 [4 ad; 13 imm] Killdeer 10 COMMON SNIPE 1 WILSON'S PHALAROPE 1 [We whiffed this one, not being sure what it was until nearly 12 hours later. We are collectively 95-99 per cent certain of the identification now.] LAUGHING GULL 5 [1st in several weeks; adults] Bonaparte's Gull 10 Ring-billed Gull 300 Herring Gull 20 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL 1 [adult; 1st in some time] Great Black-backed Gull 50 Forster's Tern 2 Winter Wren 3 The lower gull numbers reflect in part our decision not to check the lake above the dam because the birds seemed to be well upriver and because it was very windy and choppy. The shorebird was a mess. Seen for a few seconds it was orginally passed off as a Spotted Sandpiper. It was on the rock bars below Roland Island. Seen better several minutes later, it confounded us because it seemed to have a slightly decurved bill, although in every other respect it seemed right for a winter-plumaged or first-winter male Wilson's Phalarope. It was seen feeding in the water by the rocks for about four minutes and briefly in flight. The bill caused us to detour into the possibility of Stilt Sandpiper for some time, and the issue was not resolved until late that night, after looking at numerous references. This is the first record of a phalarope of any kind for Harford County, and nearly a record late date for Maryland. Paul O'Brien also saw the bird and may post his own view. Rick "Everywhere I go I'm asked if the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher." Flannery O'Connor Rick Blom rblom@blazie.com 4318 Cowan Place Belcamp, Maryland 21017 (410)575-6086