Several thousand gulls at Lorain harbor; most are hunkered down on the ice by the marina (visible from the marina parking lot or the parking lot of the wastewater treatment plant). Mostly ring-billed, about 10% herring, about 30 great black-backed. Not much activity at the former "hot waters". Waterfowl hunters are along the breakwall but a few hundred Bonaparte's were swirling near the lighthouse. Couldn't pick out anything but the named ones. Dan Gesualdo arrived as I was leaving and tipped me off to a merlin at Lakeview Park on the west side of Lorain. It was still perched when I got there but left after I'd watched it a while. The Avon Lake power plant bay had ring-billed, herring, great black-backed, and one lesser black-backed gulls. Craig Caldwell Ohio Ornithological Society Editor, The Ohio Cardinal ______________________________________________________________________ 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]