This isn't just an Ohio thing, odd/northern gulls are showing up in
Florida and Gulf coast states as well from what I have been reading.
Things are a changing fast.  I would guess it has something to do with
changing weather/climate and its effect on their ability to find food.
 Got my life Glaucous Gull at East Fork just last November.

Florida RBA:  http://www.birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/FLRB.html

http://www.birdchick.com/2009/02/gulls-at-daytona-beach.html

Don Morse Jr.
New Richmond, OH
http://donaldthebirder.blogspot.com/

On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 1:59 PM, Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> It might be interesting for those interested in gulls to share some
> thoughts about recent phenomena. Numerous first county records have been
> set at inland reservoirs since 15 Feb. I just heard from Doug Overacker,
> who summarizes reports from Springfield County's Buck Creek Res--125 air
> miles from the Lake--of lesser black-backed once, Iceland once, and
> glaucous gulls on three occasions. At Hoover Res here, we've had all
> three, two of them first county records I believe, plus a kittiwake--our
> second of the season--over five days. Bob Royse just reported 2 lessers,
> a glaucous, and a great black-backed gull from Deer Creek Res in
> Pickaway Co. Ethan and Craig noted unusual inland numbers of these gulls
> in the NE inland counties. Tom Bain had a lesser up the road at Alum
> Creek Res the other day. Gabe reported unprecedented numbers of
> white-winged gulls at Oberlin Res.
>       Probably others of these gulls have been missed, mostly because many
> birders inland are not used to them, and pay less attention to gulls
> this time of year, when the same old two species are as many as they
> expect. Observers at Ohio's lakefront hotspots certainly noticed
> unusually high numbers of white-winged gulls this winter, though gbbgs
> and lbbgs seemed less numerous than usual.  I could be wrong, but I
> don't recall any news like this from adjacent Great Lakes states.
>       So, why might this be happening?  Sure, gull migration is
> underway--except Bonaparte's, not due for a week or two--but not in a
> dramatic way as far as I hear (though at Hoover we saw 10-20 thousand
> ring-bills last Saturday, even though the proportion of younger birds
> seemed low; yesterday we saw fewer than a thousand, but still a
> glaucous). And of course the four aforementioned species, which do not
> breed in the Great Lakes, but far north and east of here (yeah, there's
> a record or two of gbbg nests in the region) seem to be headed the wrong
> way!
>       Once you eliminate normal migratory movements, the next explanation
> you
> tend to look for is food. There's been more open water on Lake Erie than
> on reservoirs recently. Are inland reservoirs offering some attractive
> new food source that attracts species that breed far to the north to
> detour south for it? Or is food getting scarce in Lake Erie, where all
> these birds would be now in Ohio during normal years? I'm at a loss.
>       Strong prevailing winds? This is hardly the first year we've had
> strong
> winds in winter, but the first time these gulls have been noticed moving
> this far south in such numbers.
>       Thoughtful speculations are invited. I haven't seen anything like this
> in my years of birding in Ohio, and I can't find any evidence of it in
> the historical record,either.
> Bill Whan
> Columbus
>
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