Chroicocephalus philadelphia
Silhouette: Michael Scroggie · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
Bonaparte's gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia) is a gull 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.
When George Ord first described Bonaparte's gull in 1815, he gave it the scientific name Sterna philadelphia, and the English name 'Banded-tail Tern'; the description clearly identifies it as a bird in first-winter plumage, while "The slender and tern-like form of the bill probably induced Mr. Ord to put it in Sterna". Most later taxonomists assigned it to the genus Larus, a longtime catch-all for most of the gull species. However, in 1858, George Newbold Lawrence moved the species to the genus Chroicocephalus, and some taxonomists followed suit. Subsequent molecular DNA studies have shown that this species fits neatly into a clade with other Chroicocephalus "hooded" gulls, and that it is in a close-to-basal position in that grouping. Based on these studies, the American Ornithologists' Union, which had previously assigned the... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anchorage | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 9 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 10 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center and Woods Garden | 🇺🇸 United States |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Bonaparte's Gull sighting in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, based on 2,267 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 64th most-seen of the 279 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and February
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Bonaparte's Gull in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, against under 5% in May to November, the lowest months. Those are among Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge's driest months, with about 70 mm of rain a month against 210 mm in September.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Bonaparte's Gull sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 28
Of the 28 parks where we can rate Bonaparte's Gull sightings, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge ranks 4th at about 20%. The best odds are in Point Pelee National Park (Canada, about 50%), Katmai National Park (United States, about 30%) and Great Bear Rainforest (Canada, about 20%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Laridae
The closest relatives of the Bonaparte's Gull that you can see in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (family Laridae, Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers) are Laughing Gull (about 50%), Royal Tern (about 40%) and Ring-billed Gull (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Bonaparte's Gull is recorded against all the birds logged in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (2,267 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
