Brad Sparks and I saw ~3000 gulls feeding at the south slope of the Columbus landfill mountain today about 9 am. Last winter the east slope was active at this time. We were 300-400 yards away on Young Rd, and the gulls were wheeling. Many thousand starlings were roosting nearby, and there were decent numbers of crows. The vultures come later. The only unusual observation we were able to make at that distance was of a glaucous gull. Last year, similar numbers of gulls were feeding on the east slope. It seems the gulls maintain a schedule not unlike that of the landfill workers. They arrive in the morning, and depart at quitting time. In between, it seems they take lengthy breaks to digest food in their crops, and have done so by flocking on nearby fields in mid-morning, and again in mid-afternoon not long before they return north to night roosts. In our experience, these gulls are easiest to observe when they form roosts in nearby fields. We found a few of these assemblies today about 11 am, but nothing like the thousands we found last year; we did a lot of driving around the area, but there must have been a lot of birds out there somewhere we didn't find. There is a marshy area on the south side of the landfill where we could barely see pretty good numbers flying in and out, and we found a few groups of as much as a hundred in swales in nearby cornfields. In one of these gatherings we found an adult great black-backed gull. Last year there were some predictable areas where thousands of well-fed gulls retreated to burp and cuddle. This year, we couldn't find any worth mentioning, even though their numbers on the landfill itself were similar. The season is ending, but it would be good to learn from birders who know the area well and get out during the day to locate gull gatherings away from the landfill. This cold winter has invited gulls of many species to feed well south into Ohio, and a shrinking number of open waters have attracted them. Landfills attract gulls too, and we should learn how to find them. Bill Whan Columbus *p.s. The landfill authority SWACO offers tours via bus, mostly to show schoolkids about refuse treatment. I don't know anyone who's participated in one, but it might be quite a trip! ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]