This species was noticed in the country in the 90s, when a small number occupied the Chandeleur Islands off Louisiana, some mating successfully with herring gulls. A hurricane in 2005 scoured the islands of gulls, and I don't know if they have resumed nesting there, but they show up from time to time. Alan Wormington photographed one right across the lake from Cleveland in 2012, and many of us recall that amiable panhandler Shrimpy, who spent a winter around a seafood restaurant in Maryland. Kelps are common in the southern hemisphere--s. America, Australia, S. Africa--but quite rare here, and if verified would be the first for Ohio. There have been a couple of reports of kelps here by lone observers unable to get good photos. Bill Whan Cols ______________________________________________________________________ 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]