Great day at Avon, once again. The ice pack moved closer, as did the birds. I birded at points with Craig Rieker and Chris Pierce, among others. Before highlights, I would like to address the California Gull that I reported to Jen earlier. After review of photos taken, it appears that this bird is not in fact an adult California, but a probable hybrid between Herring x one of the black-backed species (Greater or Lesser). After i picked this bird out by mantle shade, we waited and waited for it to stick its head out. When it finally did, it appeared to have both the red & black gonydeal marks of a Cal Gull...and we rejoiced. Back in went the head, and I waited another 30 min for it to reappear so I could take some pics. I should mention the bird was a couple hundred yards away, so the photo quality is sketchy. When the head finally came out again, the bird stood up & I immediately began snapping pics. When I returned home and got around to uploading said pictures, I saw that the bird was standing on PINK legs. Also, details of shape & size started to come together & the bird looked too big - much bigger than I remember it looking in the field. At the observed distance, it would be hard to narrow the bird down to a specific hybrid, but it seemed on the small side, with a slightly paler mantle than GBBG x HEGU hybrids I have observed. This made me wonder if LBBG was perhaps involved in the lineage. Photos will posted to the Birding Ohio page on Facebook. Other highlights at Avon today: Glaucous Gull 11 1st (5), 2nd (2), 3rd, ad (3) Iceland Gull 1 3rd Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 ad Long-tailed Duck 1 fem Glaucous Gulls were everywhere. Literally, 6-7 in view at all times. Good birding, and apologies for the false alarm. Gabe Leidy Sheffield Lake ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]