oh, that Bonaparte!

•

Bonaparte's gull (winter plumage)

And speaking of the more-like-a-tern, graceful-in-flight dainty Bonaparte’s gull (see last posting). 

Just so you know. They are not named in honor of the über famous French Emperor Napoleon, but rather his less famous zoologist nephew, Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte, who traveled to America in the early 1800s and became a friend and early supporter of the then lightly regarded John James Audubon.

This Bonaparte discovered several new species unknown to science, studied birds in America, aided in revisions made to Wilson's American Ornithology and created the genus Zenaida—the Zenaida doves—named to honor of his wife Zénaïde Laetitia Julie Bonaparte. It's the grouping that includes the common Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura). 


In summer plumage, the Bonaparte's gull has an unmistakable black head, but in winter all that remains is the dark crescent behind the eye. The bill is also small and black. Very different from the herring and ring-billed gulls. 


Although gulls don't get much respect, this is a very beautiful bird. And don't forget the pink feet.

•