Hi, all...Leroy Troyer (Fredericksburg) and I started in Euclid at 9:30 a.m., then on to Mentor, and finally back home via E 72nd and 55th street marinas. The highlights: Sims Park, Euclid -- Common Goldeneye (nearly 150) -- All three scoters (finally sure on Surf...several "stood up" and opened wings, no white at all; faces with very prominent, large, whitish patches) -- Thousands of Red-breasted Merganser -- Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead (8-10), and a few Common Mergs (flight) Mentor Lagoons -- No King Eider :( -- Great Black-backed Gull (not where i'd have predicted we'd see one) Mentor Headlands -- No Purple Sandpiper (we checked the spit out to the lighthouse for 20-30 minutes around lunch time) -- No Snow Buntings (did that bus leave a few weeks ago? no word lately) -- More GBBG and a few DC Cormorant -- Common Loon (one) E 72nd Street Marina (3 pm) -- hundreds of Bonaparte's Gull, smaller numbers of RB and Herring Gull E 55th Street Marina (3:30 pm) -- the possible LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL noted by Ed Schlabach (thanks a million, Ed...I'm pretty sure on this one) finally moved into better position, so I nabbed a few pictures. It was sitting on the break-wall across from the public restrooms, about 20 feet left of the miniature lighthouse--very obvious dark-slate shoulder visible, white mantle/neck, and much smaller than the surrounding Herring Gulls...what the heck ELSE could that have been? would love to call this a lifer....anyone want to see zoom/crop pictures and ponder with me? Let me know off list if you'd like to see the fuzzy pics of the bugger sleeping, torturing us... Scott H. Canton ______________________________________________________________________ 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]