While looking for, and finding, the iconic Sabine's Gull at East Fork Lake on Saturday, I also found another interesting gull. I haven't been around the internet since then, so I'm just now reporting it. I stopped by briefly this afternoon, and did not see it. I'm 95% certain it was a juvenile Great Black-backed Gull. That would be quite rare for southern Ohio, particularly this early in the fall. It's a call that I'm comfortable with for my own records, although I probably wouldn't report it if it were a review list bird. I saw the gull about halfway across the lake from the south beach, something over a quarter mile, through a Questar. In flight and at rest on the water, it was massively larger than nearby Ring-billed Gulls, but I didn't have a Herring Gull for direct comparison. The primaries and secondaries were much darker than the lighter wing coverts, back and underparts. The tail had a fairly narrow dark terminal band (the rectrices were not entirely dark), contrasting with the rest of the tail and the uppertail coverts. The scapulars and wing coverts had a sharp, noticeable checkered pattern. The lower body was distinctly streaked, not blurred. The head was gray, with a paler forehead and throat. The bill was large, and appeared to be entirely dark (but perhaps with a paler base). My overall impression was that the bird was dark gray, rather than dark brown; but that's not certain. -- -- Ned Keller [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]