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]