OHIO-BIRDS Archives

February 2012

OHIO-BIRDS@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 4 Feb 2012 13:21:20 -0500
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (52 lines)
Went twice to the Zuber Rd fields this morning in hopes of seeing mixed
flocks of gulls on the ground there, but no dice. There were still,
however, flocks of 10,000+ over and on the SWACO landfill to the WNW.
        Readers will recall that the diligent Paul Hurtado followed roosting
gulls from Alum Creek Reservoir to foraging areas at this spot, finding
on one occasion herring, ring-billed, glaucous, lesser black-backed, and
Thayer's gulls on a nearby field at this site. The last was a first
county record, one of only a few inland, and suggests any number of
weird gulls might be possible.
        This morning Brad Sparks and I saw many many gulls over the landfill
itself, which is maybe half a mile away, where the few on the ground
were without difficulty identifiable at 60X as common species. A visit
an hour later produced as many gulls at different locations on the
landfill, but, as before, none nearby loafing in agricultural fields.
        Then a wingless angel appeared, in the form of a local resident, who
stopped and asked if we were birders, and was tickled to find out we
were.  Schooled only in Birds&Blooms and an experience ogling owls at
Green Lawn Cemetery, she was interested in learning about the gulls,
since a relative works at the landfill. We learned from her that on
weekdays the landfill is open well after dark, but on Saturdays they
shut operations down at noon or 1 pm, and on Sundays do not open at all.
She lives near the hot spot, and took my phone number, promising to let
me know if the gulls--which she says often "cover the fields" there
[these fields must have more than 100 acres] at times--show up again.
This is a quiet spot, but with room for only two vehicles to pull off in
a field entry on the north side.
        I'll duly pass along her alerts to this forum; if you work downtown,
this spot is only 10-15 minutes away. Tasty garbage is constantly being
dumped and covered over; the gulls reap their rewards in between. The
trash is covered before employees leave for the day, which means ~1 pm
on Saturdays, and long after dark on weekdays. Slack periods during the
week, when gulls may be more likely to roost on the fields, are
otherwise unpredictable, but early afternoons on Saturdays might be
predictably good. There is not yet a common understanding of the
schedules gulls follow at the landfill vs. nearby fields. To get good
looks at them we need to gain this understanding.
More later,
Bill Whan
Columbus



______________________________________________________________________

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]

ATOM RSS1 RSS2