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Huffy_too t1_jcflsaw wrote

They are attracted to large garbage dumps.

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IamSauerKraut t1_jcfn3wi wrote

... and Williamsport is one of the largest around.

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Yomama-22 t1_jcg5ezj wrote

Next to New Jersey

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IamSauerKraut t1_jcg6hu0 wrote

NJ is not in PA despite the desires of those in Cherry Hill, Cape May, Ocean City, Avalon, Stone Harbor, etc.

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Yomama-22 t1_jch7r23 wrote

Yeah I know it’s not in Pa. It’s just a shitshow neighbor.

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TxGinger587 OP t1_jcfnexb wrote

I've been here going on 4 years and have never seen any. It's just strange to me that all of a sudden there's hundreds of them.

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CharacterBrief9121 t1_jcfnu2q wrote

It’s because they’re going north, migration, following waterways. Go up the Susquehanna from the Chesapeake bay. Maybe heading towards Great Lakes. Been in this area since I was born and see it every year.

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dpatches92 t1_jcgdv5g wrote

You've been here for 4 years and never seen any? You must not look up much cause there always around sheetz on maynard....o and Wendy's next too Walmart in montoursville

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TxGinger587 OP t1_jckk2sa wrote

I guess I never took notice. Pigeons and regular birds yes, but not seagulls. LOL

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dpatches92 t1_jd2nx04 wrote

Yes they are a plague in the summer....I like to call them sky rats.

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malepitt t1_jcfod44 wrote

I wonder if it's related to "crows congregating in the city during winter" which I have read may be a response to predators (raptors) out in the countryside. So I wonder if your local flock of gulls has been congregating in a place where a new pair of eagles has set up housekeeping? Wild guess https://www.lycomingaudubon.org/

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-Aus10 t1_jchhcec wrote

I can confirm that it's been happening at least since the 40s in the Montoursville/Williamsport area. Like other people have mentioned, almost every year

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Tdub405 t1_jchup3s wrote

The last 4 years they've been on hiatus. It used to be a yearly mass migration when they moved inland to Acme parking lots when the shore points empty out. They follow the people, because people leave a mess that they can eat. Lol.

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biscaya t1_jcihh2x wrote

YUP! We're about 18 miles from scranton, but we get the seagull infestation once and a while, especially when it's foggy.

Edit: From the landfill

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TheRealMajour t1_jcgauk7 wrote

Live in south central PA. Seagulls hanging out in store parking lots in winter has been a thing as long as I can remember.

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Momvstoddler t1_jchnpjr wrote

I’m in west and same here. They love the ShopRite parking lot by my house and have for for the whole 14 years I’ve lived here.

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drinkitwriteit t1_jcjotdk wrote

Yup. Southeast PA here. The birds come inland and make it to my area in late winter early spring.

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Critical_Band5649 t1_jcfnsxq wrote

I grew up in Montoursville and there have always been seagulls. Used to always be a ton around the mall but I'm guessing they've found better places to find garbage since. Also used to see them on campus in Lock Haven (though thats obviously clinton County) Seagulls flock to anywhere there is abundant garbage, ie- garbage dumps, dumpsters, fairs, etc.

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IamSauerKraut t1_jcftgki wrote

Seagulls, as with city pigeons, are little more than rats with wings.

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Diarygirl t1_jcgkhdn wrote

Last year I saw some people at a McDonald's throw French fries out of their car window to a lone seagull, and I just wanted to scream "you idiots!" because in about 10 seconds there was probably a hundred of them. It was like a horror movie.

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akennelley t1_jcfztt5 wrote

See them all the time on 220 through McElhatten 'rond the dump area. Makes sense.

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Critical_Band5649 t1_jcgf54q wrote

Oh that reminded me of the grass-mowing goats. I always got a laugh out of seeing them for some reason.

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Albert-React t1_jcg4fbw wrote

I've seen seagulls all over Central PA. They're nothing new.

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jillianpikora t1_jcgfl9m wrote

But why are they there? I see them in HBG and LanCo. and York and I just want to understand why.

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Diarygirl t1_jcgje3g wrote

I think it's because of PA's large number of landfills. We import a lot of trash from NY and Jersey.

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robo45h t1_jcfx42i wrote

Global warming. Jersey Shore PA is now actually the Jersey Shore.

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ell0bo t1_jcfnmzf wrote

They tend to migrate inland to the dumps during the winter, go back to the shore during the summer. At least that's what I've tended to notice with the ones near the garbage dump I grew up near.

Some might stay year round both places, but there's an increase / decrease cycle based on season.

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susinpgh t1_jcfqf3y wrote

I see them in Pittsburgh during winter months. But you know? I don't think I saw them this year. The ones we get here migrate down from the Arctic. I remember this happening:

https://www.wesa.fm/environment-energy/2014-03-03/with-the-great-lakes-frozen-a-rare-flock-of-seagulls-roosts-in-pittsburgh

but it seems to me we always get a few.

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WashPALady t1_jchsuj1 wrote

I'm obviously in Washington and see them frequently at Tanger outlets.

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IamSauerKraut t1_jcftywn wrote

Huh.

And here I thought Flock of Seagulls was a rock group. https://www.google.com/search?q=Flock+of+Seagulls+youtube&client=firefox-b-1-e&sxsrf=AJOqlzUVDQ0mM6LRazHGb5O_wINfMoBYJQ%3A1678979188714&ei=dDATZPr8Kv2pptQP3PCtsA4&ved=0ahUKEwj6hoPx3OD9AhX9lIkEHVx4C-YQ4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=Flock+of+Seagulls+youtube&gs_lcp=Cgxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAQAzIFCAAQgAQyBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB4yBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB4yBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB46CggAEEcQ1gQQsAM6BwgAELADEEM6DQgAEOQCENYEELADGAE6DAguEMgDELADEEMYAjoICAAQgAQQsQM6BQguEIAEOgcILhDUAhBDOgoIABAWEB4QDxAKSgQIQRgAUKEHWIQWYLYXaAFwAXgAgAF2iAGTBpIBAzUuM5gBAKABAcgBE8ABAdoBBggBEAEYCdoBBggCEAEYCA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:ed1b301b,vid:nMW4sRmRwqI

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susinpgh t1_jcfzgek wrote

I was sure this was gonna be a rick roll.

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IamSauerKraut t1_jcg4hvr wrote

Nah, I'd do that as an original post but I've been auto-blocked from posting anything new.

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Lucaraidh t1_jcgh94n wrote

I grew up in central PA, about an hour-ish south of williamsport, and would see gulls all the time. Hell, I’m in WI now and I just saw some migrating the other day. They’re kind of an everywhere bird. Seagull is a misnomer. There’s even an argument amongst the bird people that gulls shouldn’t be called seagulls bc of the fact they don’t solely live by seas and oceans.
I like to call them seagulls at the beach and gulls everywhere else bc its fun that way lol

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k2j2 t1_jcfrfxi wrote

We see them in Montco frequently

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PatientNice t1_jcg7f5s wrote

Pigeons have subcontracted out the work.

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Pao2819 t1_jcg0xni wrote

well there is a Jersey Shore, PA

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cheesepoltergeist t1_jcg2sy0 wrote

I’ve lived around williamsport my whole life and I feel like this always happens in the colder months, I was always told they come more inland in the winter.

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FerDeLancer t1_jcgh1ka wrote

Someone opened a bag of cheetos

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Pennzingers t1_jcgfq61 wrote

They're pretty common up here. They were most likely pushed off the coast and up the bay / susquehanna river because of the noreaster that just passed

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Pennzingers t1_jcgfwwy wrote

I live off the river in Harrisburg and not if them year round. Sometimes you'll get hering guls, the really big ones, up here

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thadbone10 t1_jcfrd6i wrote

Sometimes they hangout near large rivers.

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SheikYerbeef t1_jcfthig wrote

Ring-billed gulls are common winter residents

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nittanylion t1_jcg00i3 wrote

They got confused by the Jersey Shore signs.

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MomsSpecialFriend t1_jcg2umu wrote

I’ve always seen them migrate and hang out in all the Walmart parking lots for a couple weeks.

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B0MBOY t1_jcg53d0 wrote

They swarm garbage dumps and parking lots in winter

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Travis123083 t1_jcg5vob wrote

We get them all the time in Blair County. Every time a big storm blows through, gulls appear.

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tinymonesters t1_jcg6abg wrote

They have always been around in Allenwood at the dump.

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forty6and2oo t1_jcg6bv1 wrote

I thought I was going crazy when I noticed this the other day.

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coasterkyle18 t1_jcg7tzc wrote

I was wondering the same thing. I saw several here in Lancaster this week.

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kdani17 t1_jcga3de wrote

They are here every year.

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purplespoo t1_jcgqy3o wrote

I grew up outside of wmspt and we had them every year around this time.

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PeaceFrog229 t1_jcgsywq wrote

I've seen them around wilkes barre all of my life. There's a price chopper in Edwardsville (right outside of wb) where they all congregate in the parking lot lol no clue why

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VerbalGravy t1_jcgykd2 wrote

We get em in Somerset PA too, saw a single one the other day. They come through for a short time here and there

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wade1138 t1_jcgzm49 wrote

That's where the shorelines are gonna settle

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Dude-in-the-backrow t1_jch2fo0 wrote

They follow the rivers as well as the trash trucks coming from NJ and NY...

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ackmon t1_jch43pm wrote

"Gulls come to Pennsylvania because it's convenient,” writes Joe Kosack, a Wildlife Conservation Education Specialist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, “and because it has rivers that are loaded with small aquatic critters they eat readily, hundreds of restaurants that serve fast food indirectly to gulls, and ..."

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dangerjack0055 t1_jch6yan wrote

They're not seagulls, just gulls...trash gulls? Lol

They have a different name, I believe they are a different species too

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Steelplate7 t1_jchap9u wrote

A lot of farming fields use fish based fertilizer. I see gulls in fields quite a bit.

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Trixiedust2707 t1_jchokw6 wrote

I was wondering the same myself. Just yesterday I saw a ton of them in the TJ Maxx plaza parking lot, just like I've seen in the past few years. Always that same spot! Couldn't imagine what would draw them there. Then an elderly woman got out of her car and started throwing them food 🤦‍♂️

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Utterlybored t1_jchp13o wrote

Tangentially related: I’ve heard stories of sea gulls circling MacDonalds’ restaurants under construction, as soon as the Golden Arches are erected. Brand loyalty.

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OneHumanPeOple t1_jchuuvt wrote

There was always a flock that lived in the K-Mart parking lot near me. They’re very resourceful.

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Bluejeep10 t1_jchy405 wrote

I love seeing them this time of the year, it means Spring is coming. Very common, I have seen them do that for many, many years. Happy flight.

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ljflintstone t1_jci1518 wrote

Birds aren’t real. They’re government drones.

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TurnipTaint t1_jci4epn wrote

Gulls are land birds. They are always found around landfills (which just used to be called garbage dumps). I lived in Pittsburgh, Philly, and the Lehigh Valley and saw them.

Now I live on the beach in CA and we still have as many pigeons as Market Square in Pgh.

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Carlfest t1_jci5tfo wrote

To be fair, Williamsport is less than a half hour drive from Jersey Shore.

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ugsisr t1_jcjq571 wrote

They follow the Garbage Trucked from Compactor Sites in New York and New Jersey, then stay here flying into Clean Lakes hence contaminating yet another Pa resource. Corrupt Politicians allow Land Fill after Land Fill to Operate in Pa. Hip Hip Hooray PA! Way to go!

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Chocolat3City t1_jckdusg wrote

Its all part of the plan. r/birdsarentreal

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webauteur t1_jckeigg wrote

Due to global warming the Atlantic Ocean now reaches Harrisburg.

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FarTie8802 t1_jckfoek wrote

they're the hypertensive seagulls, cant be too close to the salt water with that high blood pressure

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SD18101 t1_jcgwy1u wrote

Climate Dooooooom theories might work.
Or unreported Solar Flares effect.

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