I had a chance to stop by Lorain Harbor this afternoon and it was actually pretty good. The south winds had opened up a few cracks in the harbor and there were a lot of gulls around. There must be a lot of shad around as there were gulls lining up along some very narrow cracks in the ice. The CALIFORNIA GULL was along one of these cracks. It was an adult bird. The leg color, bill color and shape and darker mantle were all very noticeable. It was amongst a group of almost pure herring gulls. Other gulls noted in the harbor were: ICELAND GULL 3 (2 1st cycle and 1 adult), THAYER'S GULL 1 2nd cycle, and LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL 2 adults. Surprisingly there were no glaucous gulls. I counted over 300 great black-backed gulls. There were only a few ducks there. Nothing out of the ordinary. A MERLIN was observed flying around Ridgehill Cemetery in Lorain at dusk. Ridgehill Cemetery is at the southern end of Oberlin Avenue. John Pogacnik 4765 Lockwood Road Perry, OH 44081 (440) 259-2751 ______________________________________________________________________ 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]