Bonaparte's Gull

About the Bonaparte's Gull

The Bonaparte's Gull is the gull for people who think they do not like gulls -- a small, buoyant, almost tern-like bird that dances over the water on quick wingbeats, dipping to the surface for tiny fish. In flight the white leading wedge on the outer wing flashes like a signal; in winter plumage the black ear-spot on a clean white head gives it a neat, polished look no big gull can match.

Unlike the parking-lot gulls, Bonaparte's wants nothing from people. It nests in trees -- the only gull that regularly does -- in the spruce bogs of Canada and Alaska, and winters on open water, including the big Highland Lakes.

Winter flocks on Lake Buchanan can run to the hundreds, swirling and plunging wherever shad school up, often with loons and grebes working the same bait. My photos come from Buchanan in January and February 2026, including birds picking delicately at the surface a rod's length off the boat.

They are fast, erratic, and small -- flight photography on hard mode -- but a feeding flock gives you hundreds of chances. Set a high shutter, meter off the water, and burn frames while the frenzy lasts.