I was up around Cleveland today, and took a little trip up to Ashtabula
where I had some distant looks at the Black-tailed Gull around 3:30pm.  A
young Glaucous Gull was also in the area, as well as a few Great
Black-backed Gulls and other common species.  No Snowy Owls.  The BTGU was
sitting on some ice just south of the small breakwall at the end of the
channel north of the cement bridge in a resting flock of mostly Ring-billed
Gulls.

A map of where the bird was sitting on the ice: http://g.co/maps/gj9yp.

It was seen from the gazebo at the west entrance of Lakeshore Park looking
just over the buildings with the blue roof tops. It was too far east to be
seen from the cement bridge.

More details of the BTGU observation are in this ebird checklist:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S9641295

If you go looking for the bird:  The gazebo at the west end of Lakeshore
Park and the cement bridge area along E 6th St are probably the best places
to view from.  If it's flying around inside the main breakwall it should be
visible from one of these areas.  Also, if you aren't comfortable with the
ID of this bird, beware of

1) "black-tailed" gulls -- immature Herring and Ring-billed gulls with
black bands in their tails [check the mantle and upperwing color];

2) dark mantled gulls -- primarily Lesser Black-backed Gulls (look at size
relative to nearby gulls, for any streaking on the head and neck, and check
the bill and tail pattern if possible); and

3) take a glance at photos of this particular individual on Jen Brumfield's
NorthNW Birding Blog:  http://northnw.wordpress.com/bt-gull/

Good birding,
Paul Hurtado

PS: On the drive up to Cleveland there was an all white Red-tailed Hawk
near Medina. It was perched in a tree on the west side of 71 between Sharon
Copley Rd and Wadsworth Rd. (map: http://g.co/maps/8xvh6)

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