Black-legged Kittiwake!!!! Lifer, #242 Calhoun and First Record for the County.

I will get something posted tomorrow with some catch-up stuff as this has been a great year so far.  What could make this great start to the year even better?  How about mis-identifying the rarest bird I have ever found!!!  I was looking for waterfowl on the Kalamazoo River and drove past a pull-off spot and thought "Nah, I'll just drive down Jackson and see if anything worth stopping for".  There were a ton of birds, so I turned back around and found the snow-filled pull off parking just East of Bedford Road.  As I sat there trying to spy what was on the river, this gull came flying into view.  I thought "Wow a Bonaparte's Gull in February, that is rare".  I got some decent wing pics showing a decent "M" on the back and searched in the app to make sure it wasn't a Little Gull (it didn't look little).  When I searched I only put in "Gull", so that was all that came up.  The dark collar bothered me a little, but I thought maybe it was still holding onto it.  Also the Sibley app shows the dark secondaries, but the adults don't have it, so again I figured maybe it was molt timing or something.  I emailed the local birders also to let them know and reported it on eBird.
Once I got home and started looking at the pics, something just didn't seem right with it as a BOGU.  I had some pics that had parts of the legs showing and they were not the Orange/Pink legs, but were very dark.  As I flipped through my physical Sibley's book there it was.  Juvenile/1st winter Black-legged Kittiwake with a dark collar, black legs and the "M" on the back.  I posted to what bird, and e-mailed the group "What about Kittiwake?", and got confirmations.  Completely blown away by this find.  Bird would have never been on my radar!  
This is by far the rarest bird I have ever found.  In fact it may be the farthest inland one of these has been in Michigan.  There is a report near Mt. Pleasant and east of Flint that are pretty close to "fingertips on computer screen" distance.  It is a lifer, it is a County first, and it was number 64 for the year.  Already ahead of my best pace through end of February.  
I partially have Hercules to thank for this as I thought he deserved to get out of the Jeep and walk the river.  Even though he had just had a great time playing in the snowbanks at the airport.