![]() ![]() The little gull is similar in appearance to the Bonaparte’s but is slightly smaller, the smallest gull on the continent. ![]() In winter, the wings are gray on top and light on bottom and have black-tipped primary feathers (photos). In flight, the wings of Bonaparte’s gulls are pointed. Some adults may have pink-tinged breasts during the breeding season. In spring and throughout the breeding season, adults have black heads, thin white eye crescents and orange legs. Their wings are gray, and their legs are pinkish. In winter, Bonaparte’s gulls have a white head with a gray spot behind each eye (photos). Among the smallest gulls in North America, the Bonaparte’s gull is about 11 to 12 inches in length with a 3-foot wingspan. It’s amazing how birders keep track of rare visitors.Īs mentioned previously, the Bonaparte’s gull is small. However, a slaty-backed gull was seen and photographed this week at Lake Travis near Austin, Texas. 29, which was the last day the bird was seen at the lake, and that a birding expert had happened upon the bird by chance the following day at a former sod farm near Goldsby. I also mentioned that I visited Lake Hefner Jan. Since I featured the lesser black-backed gull last week, I decided to keep the theme going with this gull, which is a winter visitor to Oklahoma. Charles Bonaparte made important contributions to American ornithology in the 1820s while an active member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, according to the Cornell Lab. The Bonaparte’s gull is not so named because of its small size, nor is it named after Napoleon Bonaparte.Īccording to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the bird was named after Charles Lucien Bonaparte, a cousin of the famous French statesman and military leader. ![]()
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