Late this afternoon, I accompanied Bob Royse as his photographer's assistant to Deer Creek Reservoir to photograph screech owls after dark. We found and photographed three gray individuals at two different locations and hopefully Bob will post results on his website soon at www.roysephotos.com. Before dark, almost immediately upon arrival near the closed gate leading to the beach area, we saw the Northern Shrike which has been previously reported. We got excellent views and the bird vocalized a lot. Bob suspected that this bird may be young due to its chest markings. He also remarked that he had never before seen this species this far south. For me this was a life bird. We also saw two white pelicans at opposite ends of the reservoir. We were concerned about the condition of the bird at the north end because at dusk it sat alone on a large sand bar in the middle of the reservoir without any cover. Hopefully it is healthy. Along with the usual suspects of ducks, grebes, and gulls, we were surprised to find very large numbers of Bonaparte's Gulls - literally in the thousands all over the reservoir! All in all a chilly but productive afternoon and evening. Doug Fisher Worthington, OH ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. 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]