[MDOsprey] Least Terns (?) and Black-backed Gulls breeding near Annapolis

Miliff@aol.com
Tue, 13 Jul 1999 21:26:09 EDT 

Hello all,  

     I'm wondering if anyone has any comments on the status of Least Tern in 
the Upper Bay.  I started keeping county lists in 1988 and it took me about 6 
years to get Least Tern in Anne Arundel County (they used to nest at Sandy 
Point but not since the late 1970s).  Eventually I had one while boating in 
the Central Bay, but after that didn't get another that I can remember until 
1997.  That year they suddenly appeared at Bay Ridge and Hillsmere Beachand 
over that summer I sometimes would see 10-15 in a quick visit to Bay Ridge.  
Common Terns similarly were rare around Annapolis in summer (Forster's and 
Royal have always been regular in my experience) but appeared suddenly in 
1997.  I was not around last summer but this year I find that is still the 
case and had a surprising 17 today at Hillsmere Beach (where my high in 1997 
was four I think).  Among them were 8 young that the adults were feeding 
along with 7 Common Terns (and 20 Forster's and 2 Royals).  I attribute the 
Common Tern increase to a fairly new colony on the Bodkin Islands in Queen 
Anne's County, but where are the Least Terns coming from.  They have nested 
at Kent Narrows in numbers since the mid-1980s at least, and back in 1990 I 
was seeing them regularly on THAT side of the Bay Bridge.  Could they be 
breeding around Annapolis somewhere or are we jus seeing birds dispersing 
from the other side of the Bay.  Similarly, North Tract at Patuxent WRC has 
been getting Least Terns each summer and now Dave Mozurkewich is seeing them 
at Greenbelt.  Surely they are nesting somewhere in that vicinity also.  I'd 
be interested in any theories or ideas as to where birds near Annapolis might 
nest.  

      Finally I was wondering if anyone else had noticed the Great 
Black-backed Gull colony at the island at the base of the southeast support 
on the Bay Bridge.  I have seen suspicious looking GBB Gulls there for 3 
years now and while I haven't taken a boat out there yet, I have fairly 
certain that the 20 or so pairs there have been nesting
there.

Best,

Marshall Iliff
miliff@aol.com