Hi, All, the Northern Gannet was absurdly easy to see- I drove there during lunch hour- no binos, no scope- hoping some kind sould would let mee peer through their scope. Well, no need. It was hovering about 10 feet above the water 10 yards out from shore. The bird was a rich dark very uniform chocolate brown with pale beige upper tail coverts, and larger than any other gulls. Numerous black-backs were also there- I think lesser based on size, but without any equipment a positive ID will be hard to make. best, Bill ______________________________________________________________________ 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]