Bird Sightings : Hebrides : Bonaparte's Gull

Bonaparte's Gull (Winter plumage)

Larus ridibundus

Photograph © Terry Fountain
Peninerine - South Uist - Outer Hebrides (Western Isles)
4th April, 2008

"Here are a few pics of a Bonaparte’s Gull taken today at Peninerine, South Uist. A lovely day for a lovely wee Gull."

 

Bonaparte's Gull Photographs

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• Bonaparte’s Gull
• Larus philadelphia
• UK ( in any month), accidental, 3 annual records BTO
• Breeds: Ground-nesting or in conifers (only tree-nesting gull). Prefers lakes, marsh or bogland in coniferous woodland or forest. N North America (Alaska), Canada
• Winters: Migrates to coastal waters: south to Mexico. (Vagrant to Western Europe), mixes with black-headed gulls
• Small gull (31-34cm. Similar but smaller than black-headed gull. Winter head white & adult has large ear-spot. Summer adult has black hood (not brown). Short, thin & black or mainly black bill. Body mostly white with pale grey upperwings & back (extending to hind-neck in winter). Underwing pale. Wing tips dark. Short pinkish legs (orange in summer). 1st summer bird similar to first winter, but paler. Less than 5% get a dark hood in their 1st summer. Graceful tern-like flight.
• Diet: (Foraging in flight, wading, swimming or on ground). fish, crustaceans insects, wading. Rarely scavenges.

The bird was named after Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte, he was a zoologist and Napoleon's nephew.

BBRC UK Bonaparte's Gull records 2000 - 2006:
10, 1, 4, 1, 5, 4, 9.

 

 

Terry Fountain's web site:
http://www.hebridesphotographic.com

Other local bird photographs

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