The Lorain Snowy Owl put in an appearance at the impoundment this morning.  It was teed-up on a treetop hawk-owl style, before flying out over the harbor and evaporating into into the snow flurries.  

Emil Bacik joined me at Avon Lake Power Plant, which was a world better than yesterday.  There's definitely some extreme daily turnover here.  Highlights:

White-winged Scoter  76
Rough-legged Hawk  1  Emil spotted this dark-morph bird coming in from the east; it perched on the ice & atop the trees bordering the hot-water outlet before heading out
Thayer's Gull  1  1st
Iceland Gull  4  1st
Lesser Black-backed Gull  1  2nd
Glaucous Gull  10  1st (4), 2nd (3), ad (3)
Great Black-backed Gull  565  counted in a single sweep

Also, an odd, dark-mantled, YELLOW-legged gull.  This adult bird was Great Black-backed in size, with dark grey (just slightly paler) mantle, clean head, large bill, and obviously yellow legs.  I'm at a loss - this bird basically identically resembled an adult Yellow-footed Gull, and it was surrounded by adult Great Black-backed Gulls for comparison.  Possibly, it had Lesser Black-backed Gull in its lineage, as I can't see a GBBG X HEGU hybrid ending up with yellow legs.  Ahhh, those crazy, crazy gulls...

Gabe Leidy
Sheffield Lake


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