Hey folks - Friend & coworker Traci Williams of Garfield Park Reservation and Drew from Rhode Island hit Calvary Cemetery and the Cleveland Lakeshore for a few hours this afternoon (27th). At Calvary Cemetery, not a stone's throw from Garfield Park Nature Center, we easily found one of the regularly wintering MERLINs. One must drive to the 'rear' of the cemetery, and almost daily one of these neato falcons can be found in the more open areas, teed up on snags. We visited the Gordon Park Marina, East 72nd, East 55th, and Burke airport. No large gull or diving duck concentrations. A decently large group of Bonaparte's Gulls (400+) was found at East 72nd. A single LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL was found on the docks at East 55th amidst hundreds of Herrings and Ring-billeds. Max count of Great Black-backs was 8. Only 10 Red-breasted Mergansers, 3 Pied-billed Grebes, token Mallards and token Canada Geese, 30 American Coots, and 2 DC Cormorants added to the 'waterbird' count. A somewhat odd dark-backed gull at East 55th induced slight head scratching, until this observer just left well enough alone with the concurring that the bird could possibly be a Great Black-backed x Herring Gull. Traci picked out one American Kestrel near Cleveland Lakefront State Park. Raptors and big white owls were absent from Burke Lakefront Airport. cheers Jen Brumfield Akron, OH _________________________________________________________________ Dave vs. Carl: The Insignificant Championship Series. Who will win? http://clk.atdmt.com/MSN/go/msnnkwsp0070000001msn/direct/01/?href=http://davevscarl.spaces.live.com/?icid=T001MSN38C07001 ______________________________________________________________________ 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]