For the past several days a third-year SLATY-BACKED GULL has been reported from Canadian Niagara Falls (it has been sitting fairly near the border but to the best of my knowledge has not been observed to cross yet). I learned of this yesterday from the Genesee-birds listserv while in Syracuse, and as I was traveling back to Cleveland that day, I decided to make a detour to Niagara Falls to take a stab at finding the bird. I was extremely fortunate and did see the bird - actually found some folks looking at it on my first stop. The location where I observed the bird (which seems to be where the bird is roosting in the late afternoon) can be reached in about three and a half hours from Cleveland. Take 90 up to Buffalo and get on I-190 north. After hopping over Grand Island, when you reach the "mainland" again take the Robert Moses Parkway west into the American Niagara Falls and get on Niagara Boulevard to the Rainbow Bridge. After crossing the Rainbow Bridge into Canada, take a left whenever you can and then take another left when you can to get back to Niagara River Road which parallels the river itself. Turn right onto Niagara River Road and you'll go past a bunch of parking lots and viewing sites dedicated to the falls themselves. Keep watch on the left and you'll see a building with some construction going on between it and the road, and a short open drive that cannot fit more than four cars stacked up. You're now upriver of the falls and in the middle of the river there are various rocks and tiny islets that stand just out of the water. Gulls take advantage of these perches and the slaty-backed gull has been returning to these around 3 p.m. each afternoon. If the gull is not there, I would recommend looking up and down the stretch of Niagara River Road from the falls to Dufferin Island for the best sign of a slaty-backed gull: lots of people with scopes and tripods. That's how I found the bird. For descriptions of the bird and other possible locations, you should see the Genesee-birds listserv. I will note a few distinctive characteristics that separate the bird from the other gulls around. (You will need a scope, of course.) First, it is in almost adult plumage, so the mantle is complete and darker than anything out there other than a great black-backed gull. It does not have the great black-backed's massive look and is about the same size as the surrounding herring gulls. The bill is very noticeable as it has an almost complete black ring and (I think) the beginnings of a red gonydeal spot, but the culmen (the upper ridge of the bill) is yellow all the way to the tip, interrupting the black ring - a very noticeable and odd pattern when the bird is looking face-on. There are small dark smudges before and behind the eye which give it a somewhat stern expression. Also, there are blotchy spots on the breast and belly. If the bird stands on a rock you will see its legs are pinkish rather than yellow. Although my impression is that sightings (or at least identifications) of slaty-backed gulls are slightly on the rise, this is still a fairly extreme rarity for the Northeast - this bird is only the second sighted at Niagara Falls that I know of, and the first was fourteen years ago. If you go for the bird, good luck. I will be happy to field questions by private e-mail if I haven't addressed something here. Chris Spagnoli Lakewood ______________________________________________________________________ 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]