A Thayer's Gull (3rd winter) was found 330 pm 1/14 Hoover Dam (marina at Smoke Burr Dr. and Sunbury Rd.) Franklin Co. loafing on the pier with Ring-billed and 130 Herring (adults, 2-3 2nd winter, 1 first winter) in good light for over 45 min. It flew several times for short distances, spending its time on the pier or in the water below it. I carry at Canon with 300 m lens but wasn't able to get ph.. About 5 % smaller than av. Herring Gull and similar shade gray mantle, pale gray/gray-brown wash over face and neck with variable blurry streaking, grayish streak through eye, dark eyes and surrounding (pupil not visible), thin bill with steep hook, short legs. Legs "rich" pink. Bill much thinner than Herring, steep hook often made it appear long billed. Bill yellowish with gray cast, more pure yellow in center, pale tip, with ring over gony ( dark triangle, dark lower/pale upper). Wing tips on sitting bird gray (slightly darker than mantle) with about 5 with tips showing. They often appeared a shade of gray brown. On spread wing, the pattern of outer five above gave a venetian-blind look with dark along outer web and subterminally the tip, the length of gray on each primary substantially shorter on each moving inward. Thus, the effect was "L" pattern on each primary. From below, the white tips showed only gray spots, the "bars" from the subterminal pattern above. On the folded wing, the paleness of the primaries was surprisingly easy to see. Combination of size, eye color, bill structure, and wing tip pattern, from above and below, point decisively to Thayer's (excl. potential hybrids, also). I have not been able to find any published Franklin Co. records but believe "a couple" recent ones exist (if memory serves). PS An ad. Northern Shrike was seen along a hedge (near OSU agricultural field) in Arlington near NW Broadway and Kenny 1/13. Click here to Reply, Reply to all, or Forward -- David & Patty Tan Columbus [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ 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]