Cindy Beckman wrote:
> Can anyone tell me, once you get to Grand Lake Saint Mary's, where we
> should go to find  the Sabine's Gull?
>
Cindy--
        Take 364 south from the State Park less than a mile, and you'll soon
see ponds on your left; the signed entrance to the St. Marys Fish
Hatchery is on the left just ahead. DeLorme 45-D4.
        I was there for several hours yesterday, and I believe our experience
was typical. We found the gull at 8 am, in the middle one of the three
longest impoundments (the easternmost, slightly higher ponds), where it
was moving restlessly north and south over the water. Once in a while it
touched its feet to the water briefly, and once alit for less than a
minute on the water. This was where it was most often found during our
time there, and it is where Mary Misplon found it on Wednesday. Twice we
found it on the ground on one of the shorter east-west dikes separating
the smaller impoundments on the west side of the hatchery (nearest the
highway). Once it spent some time in the water in an adjacent
impoundment, too...see Ben Warner's photos from yesterday.
        Perched, this is a smaller bird than any of the other gulls present,
and is more evenly gray from a distance. Flying, it is small,
faster-flying than the other gulls, and strikingly marked--again, see
the photos linked on ohio-birds.  When we were there, the only other
small larid was a basic-plumaged Forster's tern.
        Paved roadways wind among the many impoundments. They are narrow, so be
prepared to move to allow others to pass, especially hatchery employees.
If you park in a wide area at the head or foot of the upper ponds, you
have a pretty good vantage point to see this bird in flight almost
anywhere in the hatchery area.
Good luck,
Bill Whan

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