The highlight from my lunchtime walk around Schoolhouse Pond was a 1st winter Glaucous Gull on the ice.  The gull was extremely pale and large, and stood out from the nearby Ring-billed and Herring Gulls.  The bird was by itself near the boardwalk when I first saw it, and then flew towards the center of the pond where it rested on the ice with 70 Ring-billed Gulls and 2 Herring Gulls.  I was able to get a few dozen fairly close pictures of this cooperative bird.  It was still there when I returned inside approximately 45 minutes ago.

Fred Shaffer

Patuxent MOS