Not a Seagull

This is a gull. Not a “seagull” because gulls fly nearly anywhere, including garbage dumps, parking lots, farm fields and not too far from the earth’s poles. They have the audacity to eat anything from French fries to live whale. They can be elegant or brutish, ambitious or lazy.

If you do not know which of the planet’s 50 or so gull species this one is, I have a deal for you. Paying subscribers to Chasing Nature will be able to watch my 1.5-hour lecture on gull identification called “Getting Gulls.” I’ll post it in January for you to view at your leisure, and then we’ll do a live chat with your questions (including that live whale thing). Stay tuned for details.

Meanwhile, this is a Bonaparte’s Gull in winter plumage (sans black head). Nope, not named for Napoleon (so no cancellation necessary), but for his nephew Charles Lucien Bonaparte, a naturalist and ornithologist who spent time in the U.S. Two cool things about Bonaparte’s Gulls: 1) They nest in trees, which is a crazy idea for gulls, across much of Canada and Alaska and 2) They can catch and eat insects on the wing.