Six of us watched this tern flying above and below, mostly over the spillway, the Hoover Dam 5-5:45 this afternoon. It was fairly distant, but it was only a bit smaller than ring-billed gulls, had a partial black cap that was punked out at the rear but fell well short of the bill base, a bill the color of an orange, and underwings that appeared nearly all white, lacking the conspicuous black across the primaries. I've asked folks who got good photos to post a way to see them. If accepted, this would be Ohio's second record of this southern species; a bird seen 8-26 July at Lorain and later on 8/17/1995 in Ashtabula County was the first. Interestingly enough, I believe this would be the earliest record of ANY tern species in Ohio--if this was the bird Ken Davis found on 3/3. It was nasty cold this afternoon, and this bird set a personal record for the coldest conditions under which I've seen a bird I expect only on trips to Florida! Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ 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]