I showed up yesterday and ran into Jen Brumfield and Kevin Metcalf looking over the gull bonanza at East 72nd Street. The story of the day was the multiple lesser black-backed gulls that afforded such excellent, close views. In addition to the birds Jen listed, shortly after she left I noted an obvious first-winter Thayer's gull swimming in the pool in front of the bridge, probably the same bird Ray Hannikman later saw. I wanted also to address identification of the Thayer's/iceland type bird mentioned in Jen's post. As she indicates, this was a really interesting bird and a great opportunity to enjoy the mysteries of this particular gull complex. When we first saw it in flight it was flying away from us and my initial impression was Thayer's, which I think may have skewed our discussion of its identification. As it flew about we quickly noticed various iceland-like qualities of the bird. It did eventually settle on the water for excellent studies through the scope, revealing (to my recollection): Size and overall shape - smaller than herring, somewhat foreshortened body and short neck giving an almost stocky and fat-bodied look in flight Mantle - comparable to herring, at most a shade lighter Head - round, small Eye color - dark brown Bill - not closely studied, but I do not remember it being a "herring"-type thick bill Wingtips - limited grey (not black) markings on outer webs of first 2-3 primaries only Streaking - very limited, diffuse, blurry, extremely light blotching confined mostly to the foreneck (not the hindneck) and difficult to distinguish from the background white color After reviewing these characters and consulting Sibley, I would call this a dark adult of the "Kumlien's" type of iceland gull. Less likely in my opinion, but still possible, is that it was a Thayer's/iceland hybrid. I would not call this a pure Thayer's due to the size, head shape, and lack of dense or dark streaking on the head and neck. As Jen stated, it was the most intriguing bird of the day, although I'm also partial to adult glaucous gulls myself. I would be remiss not to mention Jen's and Kevin's great bird-spotting abilities - they got me on many of the birds we saw yesterday. Frankly, my gulling skills were a little rusty! Chris Spagnoli Lakewood ______________________________________________________________________ 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]