On Tuesday, Nov 29, I spent a very windy and rainy day along the lakeshore from Lorain harbor east to Sims Park in Euclid. Strong NE winds all day created high waves that crashed on the rocks and shore making observation difficult. I started at Wellington Reservoir that had several common loons and horned grebes, 500-1000 ruddy ducks, and a few odd ring necks, lesser scaup and buffleheads, as well as the usual flock of Canada geese. Conditions were very poor for observation with wind, rain and fog. Lorain harbor was very windy and spitting rain when I was there from 10-11am. There were 10s of thousands of Bonaparte's gulls everywhere, but I could not pick out anything special among them, despite a lot of time trying. I did find a 2nd-year lesser black-backed gull swimming in a calm area among lots of bonies and ring-bills. There were 10-15 common loons and several horned grebes in the harbor close to the docks. At the marina, there was a tightly packed flock of red-breasted mergansers that numbered in the thousands. I stopped at Avon power plant, but there was nothing there, the wind and waves being too wild. At E. 55th st. marina, there were the same birds as at Lorain, though not nearly as many. My last stop was at Sims Park for the widely-reported scoters. Despite the giant waves and stiff wind and rain that made observation very difficult, they were there. What I saw were 3-4 surf scoters, including one adult male, 5-6 white-winged female/immature, and 7-8 black females. There was also a nice flock of 10-12 common goldeneye, plus the usual red-breasted mergs. So, not the most productive "day at the beach", but an adventure none the less. Randy Rowe, Wooster ______________________________________________________________________ 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]