On Tuesday Nov. 18, Kim and I birded the lakeshore with Robert Hershberger, Samuel Weaver, and Phil Chaon. We spent a substantial amount of time at both Huron and Lorain, and then joined Ethan Kistler at Headlands Beach State Park in the latter part of the afternoon. Sorry for the late report, but I've been away from e-mail since early Tuesday morning. At Huron the highlight was a juvenile Pomarine Jaeger that made three close passes (we're assuming it was the same individual -- looked the same, the typical medium-dark morph). A more distant, unidentified jaeger went by early. A single Long-tailed Duck flew in and landed for close studies. Also here were one Surf Scoter, one Forster's Tern, two Lesser Black-backed Gulls, at least 2000 Red-breasted Mergansers, 5000 Bonaparte's Gulls, 7000 Ring-billed Gulls, and a few hundred Herring Gulls. At Lorain, birding the east side of the rivermouth, we had a distant fly-by of a jaeger that we left unidentified, although its shape and flight action suggested Parasitic. We had a very close study of a classic juvenile Thayer's Gull in the harbor, watched both on the water and in flight. Also here were at least two Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 2000 Herring Gulls, 9000 Ring-billed Gulls, 10,000 Bonaparte's Gulls, and one Common Tern. At Headlands we were able to pick out at least two adult Little Gulls among a very large and very distant flock of Bonaparte's; there may have been more, but we didn't see more than two at one time. Ethan had seen the birds more closely, and perhaps more individuals, before we arrived there. Also at Headlands were two absurdly tame Purple Sandpipers along the beginning of the breakwater leading out to the lighthouse, and a single Lesser Black-backed Gull. Phil Chaon had a single Red Crossbill flyover near the parking lot. The sheer numbers of birds along the lakeshore are just phenomenal. Even without any rarities, it would have been a spectacular day for looking at birds. Kenn Kaufman Rocky Ridge, Ohio ______________________________________________________________________ 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]