While other folk were searching for the Ivory Gull at Alum, I took a journey down to Mt.Trashmore, the huge SWACO landfill south of Grove City looking for big gull flocks, with no real success.  There were sizeable commuting flocks of mostly Ring-bills, but no good spot from which to view them on the ground.

The only notable bird of the morning was a Merlin perched on a stop sign along busy Buckeye Parkway in Grove City.  I had to do a double-take, thinking it was someone's idea of a prank, until the bird flew off as I got out of the car a bit further down the road.  This was my second Merlin in as many days - yesterday I had one in trees at the Honda Wetland by Glacier Ridge - and my third in a week.  On the Columbus CBC, we had 3 different Merlins, so they seem to be infesting many of our urban neighborhoods this winter, perhaps drawn in by the easy availability of feeder birds and starling flocks.  If you still need to find a Merlin for central Ohio, this would seem to be a good winter to try for one.

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