I realize that yesterday is too long ago among these announcements, but folks who weren't there might be interested in our most recent major influx of Franklin's gulls, in the fall of 1998, when around 400 were reported when far fewer reporters were around, even though a higher proportion found birds on their own. As far as we can tell, weather--mainly storms and prevailing winds--makes for such influxes. Franklin's gulls are a prairie wetland species that doesn't visit oceans much outside the winter season, when it heads to central and south America along the Pacific. In its fall dispersals here, it has become just as--and probably more--happy along inland lake shores as on the shores of the Great Lakes. 1998's influx followed a major low-pressure system in mid-November, a full month after 2014's visits; only a handful had been reported in October '98. That November, it was easiest to find these gulls among flocks of ring-bills gathering to pluck worms and insects behind plows on rural fields; this was so consistent that some of us made it a point to look for ag machinery and scrutinize inland feeding flocks for this species. That fall, over ten days at Lakeshore Park, 111 were tallied, while inland at Killdeer as many as 85 at once were seen in fields, and 54 near Toledo. Many Franklin's were seen on the shores and pools of inland reservoirs, and just as many were noticed following plows, for a total of more than 400. These were pretty good numbers for a state decidedly outside this gull's migratory route. I recall my first look at breeding Franklin's gulls. My brother and I were wandering the plains of Colorado in May, looking for birds. I called for a screeching halt along a lonely road, calling out "Ross's gulls! Ross's gulls!" Stupid, sure. In a prairie several hundred yards out was a pothole, and it was easy to see pink-breasted gulls out there among the phragmites. More careful scrutiny of course revealed they were Franklin's, in the full flush of their breeding finery. You don't see this plumage in the field guides very often, or of course in Ohio, but for a couple of weeks a year--out west--it can be stunningly obvious. I've seen a couple of pinkish Bonaparte's gulls since then, in fall, but nothing like these Franklin's, or should I call then Pranklin's? Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ 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.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]