About Bonaparte's Gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia)
Our smallest native gull species was named not for the French general, but for his nephew, the zoologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte. This gull is a winter resident along the Atlantic Coast, where it feasts on fish, crustaceans, and other marine life. On its Canadian breeding grounds, it subsists mostly on insects, often taking them on the wing. It also nests in trees, an extremely unusual habit among gulls.