Congrats to Carl and Rob for such a great find!

Some info for those who chase this bird tomorrow:

I've tried to keep tabs on gull movements in the Columbus area, and it
seems there is a really good pattern of gulls roosting at the south end of
Alum Creek at night, then heading southwest in the morning to follow the
Scioto south along 315 towards the landfill. While people should definitely
check Alum Creek, Delaware and Hoover Reservoirs, personally, I'd focus on
Alum Creek down the Scioto towards the landfill.  Deer Creek Reservoir
might also be worth checking tomorrow p.m. if it isn't refound "up north".

At Alum Creek Reservoir, a good fraction of the roosting gulls will often
fly to the beach once they "wake up", before flying off to the southwest.
Best views are from the dam (park below the dam and walk up the stairs;
bring a scope and warm/windproof clothing!).  Later in the morning and
during the day, it could turn up anywhere on Alum Creek, Delaware, or
Hoover reservoirs, or anywhere along the Scioto south of 275 downstream to
the landfill.

If the bird isn't refound during the day tomorrow, and you can't make it up
to the reservoirs (or down to Deer Creek reservoir) to search for the bird,
I'd definitely check Ring-billed Gull flocks near Antrim Lake, the river
near OSU, the confluence area down to COSI, the Scioto-Audubon and
Greenlawn Ave bridge area, etc. Lots of hard-to-view water south of the
Haul Rd. quarry ponds off of 104 (south of Greenlawn Ave) so visit nearby
areas frequently assuming the bird moves around a bit.

Hopefully the bird cooperates, and sticks around in some place accessible!
:-)

Best,
-Paul Hurtado
Columbus, OH



On Sat, Jan 4, 2014 at 6:17 PM, rob thorn <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I stopped by Antrum Lake while running some errands, and had the
> first-winter kittiwake floating in the open water near a small flock of
> Ring-billed Gulls around 4:15. I didn't know of Carl's post, but stumbled
> on the bird by happenstance. I watched for about 5 minutes, then it flew up
> and soared around over the nearby Olentangy River before flying off to the
> north at perhaps 4:20.  It's likely that this bird will roost with the
> gulls up on Alum Creek Lake or possibly Delaware Lake, so it might be found
> at one of those two spots tomorrow morning.
>
> Other birds in the open water included a Pied-billed Grebe, female Common
> Merganser, and female Hooded Merganser.  If it stays open through tomorrow,
> it may accumulate more interesting birds.
>
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--
Paul J. Hurtado
Postdoctoral Fellow, The Ohio State University
Mathematical Biosciences Institute, http://mbi.osu.edu/
Aquatic Ecology Laboratory, http://ael.osu.edu/

E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Webpage: http://people.mbi.ohio-state.edu/hurtado.10

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