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Bird Control Program Forward Landfill-Manteca, California Table 2. Summary of independent surveys of the Forward Landfill - 2012-2013. Month #of #of #of gulls #of #of #flocks #gulls surveys hours feeding at control gulls flying past flying past landfill/ events/ controlled/ landfill/ landfill/ 3 hours 3 hours 3 hours 3 hours 3 hours 2012 October* 8 48 0.0 1.3 13.8 0.3 2.0 October** 2 6 0.0 1.5 4.0 1.0 2.0 November 9 29.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.7 1.6 December 11 35.5 0.2*** 0.3 0.7 1.0 6.2 2013 January 11 35 0.0 0.3 0.9 0.9 5.6 February 9 27 0.3*** 2.0 18.7 1.0 2.9 March 9 27.6 0.0 1.1 3.8 0.5 1.3 April 2 6 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 3.0 April* 11 66.25 0.0 1.3 4.4 0.6 1.9 May* 10 60 0.0 0.3 0.8 0.2 0.4 * Control using model airplane glider **Falconry program began on October 15, 2012 and ended on April 13, 2013 ***2 gulls on ground for 20 minutes on Sunday, Dec 16; 3 gulls feed for 5 min twice on Feb 7. There was a reduction in the numbers of gulls approaching or passing by the Forward Landfill over the three years with the falconry control program in place. During the 2010-2011 period, there was an average of 1.0 flocks per hour of observation by the independent observer. This number declined in the second year(2011-2012)to 0.4 flocks per hour. During the third year (2012-2013), the number of flocks of gulls approaching the landfill declined further to an average of 0.2 flocks per hour. Observations at Forward Landfill -Weekends The surveys in the previous two years determined that gulls did not use the Forward Landfill on Saturday afternoons or Sundays when the landfill was closed and the controllers were not present. To confirm this finding, the landfill was surveyed on Sunday on 18 November and 16 December 2012 (Appendix Table 2). No gulls fed at the landfill during those surveys although 2 gulls were on the ground for 20 minutes during the 3.25 hour observation period on 16 December. Therefore, the pattern of gulls not feeding at the Forward Landfill when the landfill was closed and the waste was covered continued in winter 2012-2013. Observations at Other Landfills In order to interpret the results from Forward Landfill, it was necessary to examine the numbers of gulls that occurred at other municipal solid waste landfills in the area that did not have intensive gull control programs in place. Two such landfills were examined by LGL personnel: Foothill Landfill and North County Landfill. Each of these landfills had some bird control 6 30 December 2013