Hi all, I managed to go see the bird at Hoover yesterday evening from around 6:30-7:00pm. A big thanks to everyone for sending in updates throughout the day! When I arrived, it was standing next to a Ring-billed Gull the whole time, which made for excellent comparisons despite the fading light. Seeing it next to the Ring-billed Gull, I had the same impression expressed by Bill: too big to be an Elegant Tern (and therefore, presumably, Lesser Crested?) but just right for Royal. Bill color and shape also looked good for Royal, as others have previously mentioned. I should mention that I had the pleasure of staring at my life Royal and Elegant terns for quite a long time at relatively close range, right along side one another on a beach in Sonora, Mexico. That was around 10 years ago. Also, comparing the tern and gull at various angles and in the fading light, I noticed the tern's upper parts were clearly but only slightly more pale than the upper parts of the adjacent RBGU. I think this may also rule out some of the other old world Thalasseus terns. Some of my favorite pics of the bird's bill (for comparing with online photos of other terns) are this one by Laura Keene http://www.flickr.com/photos/keeneone/5508161880/sizes/o/in/set-72157626220763594/ and this one by Dane Adams (4th photo) http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/2011/03/royal-tern-in-ohio.html Hopefully many of these and other great photos are sent in to the OOS Records Committee for documentation (Instructions are available at http://www.ohiobirds.org/records/documentation.php). Good birding, Paul Hurtado ______________________________________________________________________ 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]