Copied below is a report that Jack Stenger posted to the Birding In Cincinnati web site. 

http://cincinnatibirds.com/goodbird/sighting.php

For the second week in a row we had another very rare gull on the Ohio River. 

 

Date: Sunday, February 20, 2011
Location: Meldahl Dam
Reporter: Jack Stenger
Other Birders: Jay Stenger

Dad and I went down to the Meldahl Dam area today from 3:00 - Sunset.  We stopped at a few stops along the Ohio River on the way, but we will put those in a different post. Our highlights were 6 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, 2 LONG-TAILED DUCKS, 1 RED-NECKED GREBE, and a first-cycle THAYER'S GULL.

We saw everything from the Meldahl Dam parking lot except for the Red-necked Grebe, which we saw from Chilo Lock 34 Park.

We first saw the Thayer's Gull amongst a large group of gulls sitting on the Kentucky side above the dam. It was a dark bird, more likely confused with a Herring Gull than an Iceland. It was sitting on a log in between two Herring Gulls and a bunch of Ring-billed Gulls.  It was intermediate in size between the two, but closer in size to the Ring-billed Gull. We also could compare the Thayer's smaller bill and head shape to the Herring's. Calling a first cycle gull a pretty bird may be a stretch to some, but this bird's coffee-with-cream coloring was definitely more attractive than the first cycle herrings present. Since it was far away it was difficult to see details of the primary pattern, but the primaries were chocolate colored and had a small bit of pale edging on the tips to P9 and P10. I stared at it in my scope for 20+ minutes waiting for it to fly.  Finally it did fly when all the birds took off. Again we couldn't get detailed looks of the primary pattern, but there was more pale in the primaries than on a Herring Gull which were flying nearby.  It then landed on the river with a bunch of ring-billeds about halfway between the dam and Chilo. That's when we went to Chilo and left the bird. When we returned to Meldahl before dark we couldn't relocate it in a brief look.

There were a lot of gulls (~2,000) present and just before sunset most got into a large kettle and spiraled upriver to a presumed roosting site. 

Here are some of the birds we saw:

6    Pied Billed Grebe
8    Horned Grebe
1    Red-necked Grebe
2    Great Blue Heron
1    Bald Eagle
1    Red-shouldered Hawk
4    Red-tailed Hawk
5    Turkey Vulture
15  Black Vulture
50  Canada Goose
70  Mallard
10  American Black Duck
25  Canvasback
3     Lesser Scaup
2    Red-breasted Merganser
2    Hooded Merganser
8    Common Goldeneye
6    White-winged Scoter
2    Long-tailed Duck
12  Ruddy Duck
2    American Coot
2,000  Ring-billed Gull
14   Herring Gull
1     Thayer's Gull
2     Belted Kingfisher
11   Wild Turkey
6    Eastern Bluebird
8    Cedar Waxwing

 

Jay Stenger

Cincinnati, Ohio

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