All birds/Laridae/Bonaparte's Gull

AI reconstruction created with Nano Banana 2 · 1K, grounded in the profile’s documented taxonomy, habitat, natural-history sources, and an open-license visual reference when available. It is an interpretive image, not documentary evidence. Image policy →

Verified source photographXochitl ZambranoCC-BY · View source ↗

PRB-0138Charadriiformes

Bonaparte's Gull

Gaviota de Bonaparte

Chroicocephalus philadelphia

Accidental / vagrantIUCN LC · Least Concern

Bonaparte's gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia) is a member of the gull family Laridae found mainly in northern North America. At 28 to 38 cm (11 to 15 in) in length, it is one of the smallest species of gull. Its plumage is mainly white with grey upperparts. During breeding season, Bonaparte's gull gains a slaty-black hood. The sexes are similar in appearance.

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FamilyLaridaeGulls, Terns, and Skimmers

Puerto Rico occurrenceAccidental / vagrantAvibase inferred core 380

Primary habitatwetlandsCoastal

Primary dietCarnivoreOmnivore

Average mass204.575 gGlobal trait estimate

MovementMigratoryAerial

Sound archive

Hear its voice

Explore real songs and calls. The spectrogram turns each sound into a visual trace of time and frequency.

XC959503Recording 1 of 3call, Long call

SpectrogramChroicocephalus philadelphia

0:000:28

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Sound recorded by Kent bird sounds · XC959503 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Visualization by Stichting Xeno-canto voor Natuurgeluiden.

Every recording retains the creator, catalogue number, and license published by Xeno-canto. Metadata via GBIF ↗

Island profile

Catalog scopeAvibase inferred core 380

About the Bonaparte's Gull

Conservation

Least Concern

IUCN LC

Global IUCN: LC
Puerto Rico DNER: No current listing in source crosswalk
Federal ESA: No current listing in source crosswalk
Critical habitat: Not identified in source crosswalk

Natural history

How it lives

Habitat: wetlands
Elevation: 0–600 m
Nest: Platform · Tree
Clutch: 1–3 eggs
Social behavior: Social / flocking

Keep exploring

This bird belongs to 7 paths through the atlas.

The complete catalogAll Birds of Puerto Rico402 birds →Birds by habitatCoastal Birds62 birds →Birds by habitatWetland Birds116 birds →ConservationLeast Concern Birds328 birds →Occurrence in Puerto RicoAccidental & Rare Birds205 birds →Occurrence in Puerto RicoMigrants & Vagrants221 birds →Bird familyGulls, Terns, and Skimmers (Laridae)28 birds →

Evidence trail

Sources, media & further reading

eBird species profile↗Macaulay Library media↗iNaturalist observations↗GBIF occurrence data↗BirdLife species factsheet↗Xeno-canto recordings↗Wikipedia in English↗Wikipedia en Español↗Media source · inaturalist.org↗Source record 1↗Source record 2↗Source record 3↗