I had to get over to Lorain, so I made some time to check out the harbor for
a couple hours.  The Spitzer Marina, where Gabe saw all the birds yesterday
was frozen over as mentioned earlier by Craig.  I did see my only Glaucous
gull in this area, a first cycle bird.  I also saw two Iceland gulls, an
adult and third cycle.  There were also at least 7 lesser black-backed
gulls..  As mentioned by Craig, the Bascule Bridge was closed so you have to
cross the river via the high level bridge.

The river was the best place to bird today.  There were large feeding flocks
of mergansers in the harbor and the gulls seemed to follow them around.
Picking out different gulls was a little difficult as the birds were a ways
off and it was sunny.  It seemed the best way to find the oddball gulls was
watching for them in flight.  Finding them was not that hard.  Getting
photos was.  There were quite a few gulls in the air and trying to relocate
them in your camera took a bit of luck.  I did get some decent flight shots.
Nine species of gulls total.

Here is the breakdown:

Bonaparte's gull- 1 near the lighthouse
Ring-billed gull- common
CALIFORNIA GULL- 1 2nd cycle.  I spotted this one on the river just north of
the sewage plant.  It disappeared pretty quick and was not relocated
Herring gull- common
THAYER'S GULL-  9  (1 1st cycle, 2 2nd cycle, 2 3rd cycle, and 4 adults)
ICELAND GULL- 3 (1 3rd cycle and 2 adults)
Lesser black-backed gull- 9 (1 3rd cycle and 8 adults)
GLAUCOUS GULL   1 1st cycle
Great black-backed gull- common

Some photos can be seen at:

http://www.rarebird.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6334&PID=19170&#19170

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

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