Bonaparte's Gull is not quite run-of-the-mill

By Al Lowe
Contributor

This is quite a small gull. Not quite the smallest, but close. It is about the size of a grackle, where as a lot of other gulls are much bigger.
The Bonaparte's Gull is 'hooded' - that is, it has a dark head and neck. Quite a few gulls have this same pattern. This one's hood is quite black, and it doesn't go very far back. It looks as though the hood altogether, and just has a sort of grey smudge, about where his ears are.
Wings and back are grey, except for white 'wedges' at the ends, and rather thin black strips at the very tips. Its tail is pure white both winter and summer, and it has a black beak and orange legs all the time.
We usually associate gulls with the sea, but not this one - at least not in summer. It breeds in the north woods, all the way from Alaska to Quebec. But it is a wanderer, and can be seem at some time in much of the whole continent, at least as far east as the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Here is another difference. We usually think of gulls nesting on the ground, at the seashore. Well, this one nests in trees, usually quite far north in Canada or Alaska. Nests are made of twigs, lined with hay and moss, a few feet up in spruce or other evergreens. Commonly, three eggs are the norm.
Bonaparte's Gulls live in fairly large colonies, and are quite active in defending their nests. They will wheel and scream, and dive quite viciously at an intruder.
The young birds, incidentally, don't get the black head until they are a year old.
And here's another difference. We think of gulls as eating things from the water, all of the garbage and junk they can pick up from our landfills. Not these gulls. They eat insects. They take all kinds of insects on the wing. (and we know there are lots of bugs in the north woods, don't we?) They take insects on the surface of ponds and lakes, and they will poke into the mud for worms, crayfish and so on. They eat very little vegetation of any kind.
In flight, these little gulls seem to go along effortlessly, sort of drifting with casual wing beats. That may give the wrong impression - they have been known to weather some very bad storms.
Like most gulls, their calls are not considered to be very melodious. Some harsh, rasping sort of cries, and sometime a sort of whistle, are about the best our friend can do.
Bonaparte's is a real wanderer in the fall. In the winter, he can be found on both coasts of the U.S. , Mexico and Cuba, usually along with many of his bigger relatives. He goes in a roundabout way to get there, too. Across the continent to James Bay, or across the Rockies.
Incidentally that name "Bonaparte," was given to this bird as an honour for one of Napolen's nephews. He was a famous naturalist in the 19th century.