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Re: Trans-Delmarva Gulls

From:

"Lovelace Glen (DelDOT)"

Reply-To:

Lovelace Glen (DelDOT)

Date:

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 07:53:34 -0400

At Oak Grove, the fly-through gulls follow a SE-NW line roughly parallel to the railroad tracks going from Seaford to Federalsburg and usually within 1/3 mile of the tracks, but more to south side.  The various gull species stick to this pattern year-round, not just the Laughers.  It has even produced a couple Fly-over Forster's Terns.

Here is another question I have always had.  How do the gulls locate the one field where the farmer is working up ground?  If they are roosting / nesting in the marsh, how do they know a field is getting plowed 30 miles away and arrive in a flock of 500?

Glen Lovelace III
Seaford, DE 

-----Original Message-----
From: Maryland Birds & Birding [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul Bystrak
Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2010 11:50 PM
To: 
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Cecil County Migrants

>The most interesting gind was the 20 or so Laughing Gulls which flew 
>over the ENSF. They seemed to be traversing the peninsula east to west...
>
>Happy Spring...
>-Chris Starling

Chris' observation of Laughing Gulls crossing Elk Neck Peninsula 
brought to mind the Laughing Gulls that traverse the Delmarva 
Peninsula every day over my house.  This has been going on from 
mid-April to mid July since I have lived here, but it got me to 
thinking about where they are coming from and going to.  They appear 
to go towards the north in the morning and towards the south in the 
evening.  A check on Google Earth showed that the Wicomico County 
landfill is approximately NNW of my house, and, of course,  a likely 
destination for gulls.  So that's probably where they are going; 
where are they coming from?  So I drew a line through my house from 
the landfill, and extended it until it hit marsh (33.5 miles), which 
turns out to be the marshes along the causeway to Chincoteague.  So, 
my guess is that they are nesting there, and commuting to the 
landfill for lunch everyday.  Life is good.  Any other thoughts would 
be appreciated.   I made a .pdf of the gull route on Google Earth, if 
anybody wants a copy.

In terms of birds, I still have juncos at the feeder, and had my 
first summer tanager singing in the yard this morning.

Paul Bystrak
Salisbury, MD




3709 Devonshire Drive
Salisbury, MD 21804
410-572-9950
443-783-1268 (cell)