Bonaparte's Gull
Chroicocephalus philadelphia (Ord, 1815)
Laridae — Gulls, Terns, Skimmers
Bonaparte's Gull, Chroicocephalus philadelphia, breeds in the boreal forest zone of North America from south-west Alaska and north-west to south-west Canada through to eastern Quebec in south-eastern Canada. Outside the breeding season it ranges along the eastern North Pacific coast to west-central Mexico, inland in the south-eastern United States, and on the western North Atlantic coast and offshore Gulf Stream to Florida, the Bahamas and Cuba. It is one of the smallest gulls, and the sexes look alike. In breeding plumage it shows a slaty-black hood, while the rest of the plumage is mainly white with grey upperparts.
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Laridae — Gulls, Terns, Skimmers
- Breeding range
- North America: boreal forest zone from sw Alaska mainland and nw, sw Canada to e Quebec (se Canada)
- Nonbreeding range
- e North Pacific coast to wc Mexico; inland se US; w North Atlantic coast and offshore Gulf Stream to Florida, the Bahamas and Cuba
