There was a bigger movement of gulls today than yesterday.  Ten species of
gulls were counted and and close to 20,000 gulls passed by.  The large gulls
started early and were at first dominated by ring-billed gulls.  Herrings
and the other larger gulls picked up around 9:00.  The first couple hours I
had a lot flying behind me so I was not able to get ID's on them.  After
that most flew overhead but there continued to be some that were south of
lakeshore.  Highlights with the big gulls were single Thayer's and Iceland
gulls, 3 glaucous, and 2 lesser black-backed.  The larger gulls continued to
fly all afternoon and just recently have slowed down a bit.

The Bonaparte's started in a big spurt of around 100 gulls at around 8:15
that included an immature black-legged kittiwake.  There was a lull and then
they began flying around 10:00.  The black-headed gull passed by around
10:30.  It passed pretty close to shore amongst a small group of Bonaparte's
gulls.  It was heading west.

Waterfowl were down a bit over yesterday with about 1,000 fewer mergansers.
Three black scoters were of note.  There should be some good gulls around if
you check the harbors such as Lorain, Cleveland, and Fairport.

Lakeshore Waterbird Survey
North Perry, Lake County
January 3, 2012, 745-1115
Weather- cloudy with snow, Winds- NW 20-30+
Temp- 21-23 F, Barometer- 30.17-30.22
Humidity-73-69, Dew point- 14
Waves-10-12 feet, Flight direction- west

BLACK SCOTER 3
Bufflehead   6
Common goldeneye 23
Common merganser 174
Red-breasted merganser 2,326
Bald eagle 2 ad
BLACK-HEADED GULL 1 ad
Bonaparte's gull 672
Ring-billed gull 8,870
Herring gull  10,386
THAYER'S GULL  1 1st
ICELAND GULL 1 1st/2nd
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL 2 (2- ad)
GLAUCOUS GULL 3 (2 ad, 1 1st/2nd)
Great black-backed gull 139
BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE   1 imm

John Pogacnik
4765 Lockwood Road
Perry, OH 44081
(440) 259-2751

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]