I made two stops in Prince George's County today, going to both Schoolhouse
Pond and Wharf Road on Piscataway Creek. I was at Schoolhouse Pond from
approximately 12:45 until a little after two, and there was a small group
of gulls on the small remaining patch of ice pushed to one edge of the
pond. There were approximately 120 Ring-billed Gulls, and about 35 or 40
Herring Gulls, although gulls kept flying in and leaving. For about 15
minutes, an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull flew in and stood on the ice.
It was close enough to the boardwalk that I may have gotten some fairly
good photos of it. Also of interest was a late adult Laughing Gull. Non
gulls included 15 Shovelers and 1 Pied-billed Grebe.
At Wharf Road, there were six Bonaparte's Gulls and one adult Great Black-
backed Gull mixed in among the many Herring and Ring-billed Gulls.
Waterfowl present included large numbers of Ruddy Ducks, Ring-necked Ducks,
and Canvasback, with smaller numbers of Scaup (mostly Lesser) and a few
Common Mergansers and Bufflehead.
Fred Shaffer
Patuxent MOS
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