Bird of the Day - Bonaparte's Gull

Flying Circus Birds

From the Flying Circus Birders

The Flying Circus Birders is a gathering of people interested in enjoying and exploring the natural history of Boulder County, CO. We are open to all and meet every week year-round and are often led by Ringmaster Steve Frye. Please join us some time! Sign up for this newsletter by using the Postings Button below.

"If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.”

- Vincent Van Gogh

Flying Circus Birders

November 30, 2024. Sunny and chilly. 30 - 45 F. 0 - 2 mph.

20 participants

A lovely morning for a bird walk. Just the right chill for good birds and they did not disappoint. What could be better than spending a few hours with the birds and your buddies?

See all of the Great Images from the Walk!

Photo Gallery

This week we have 74 images in our gallery!

Please Note - The gallery images are collected from many dedicated bird photographers. Photographers are listed in the text when you click on an image.

American Dipper Video © Jane Baryames

Video

American Dipper Video © Steve Frye

Video

Bonaparte’s Gull © Kevin Rutherford, Fern Lake Photography

Bird of the Day - Bonaparte's Gull

Bird names can be quite funny, or maybe odd, sometimes. These names can also change. In fact, many bird names, both common and scientific names, have changed over time, some have even changed multiple times. Traditionally, when a bird is first described in scientific literature, the author gets to name the species. Sometimes, the author will name a species after the person who discovered it or after a famous ornithologist or mentor. One rule is that you cannot name the species after yourself. The naming of birds after people has come under scrutiny lately, and there is an effort to remove people’s names from bird names. This current in taxonomy reflects social concerns about the history of some ornithologists. Astoundingly, not all ornithologists were amazing humans with unblemished records. Our Bird of the Day, Boneparte’s Gull, is named after the ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte. I don’t know anything about his history, but his cousin Napolean made quite a stir in Europe and Russia. So, Boneparte’s Gull may be coming up on a name change. Who knows, someone might just sign a decree calling it the ‘Gull of America’.

Learn more about the Bird of the Day by going to All About Birds from the

Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology

Hear the sounds of our Bird of the Day at the Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds

More Images from the Walks

Just click on the image to see a larger version!

Song Sparrow © Neal Zaun, Zaun Nature Photography

American Dipper © Mark McLean

Great Blue Heron © Steve Frye

Blue Jay © Jane Baryames

"An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day"

-- Henry David Thoreau

Sign-Up for Postings

Sign up for our bi-weekly bird newsletter and slide show by clicking on the button above. By Signing up for our newsletter, you will also receive an email every Friday evening telling where to meet on Saturdays, if interested. Please consider forwarding this email to anyone who might be interested. Thanks.

Donate

Please support the Flying Circus Birders by making a donation for receiving the newsletter or for going on a walk. A great deal of time and expense go into the walks and the Flying Circus Birds newsletter. All donations are greatly appreciated. Thanks, Steve.

See more images of our

Bird of the Day from past walks

Flickr

Visit our website boulderbirdwalks.org

Also Seen on the Bird Walk

Flying Circus Birders © Jane Baryames

Golden Ponds Park and Nature Area © Clark Anderson

Bird Walk History - What Happened 5 Years Ago?

Bird Blast from the Past

What's all this then

The Flying Circus Birders meet every Saturday for our adventures, leaving promptly at 7:30 am and returning about 10:30 am (times differ in winter and summer). Destinations are announced in Friday evening emails, no reservations are required. See the postings button above to sign up for the newsletter and destination emails. All ages and experience levels welcome. Please come ready to have fun, dressed for conditions and with optics, if you have them. Within reason, we go out every Saturday because that is just the kind of people we are.

Send in those Images !

Please share your images from the Saturday walk by emailing them to flyingcircusbirders@gmail.com. If possible, send images as jpegs from 300k to 5mb in size. Thank you for sharing and please include your name and date taken.

eBird - Real Time Bird Sightings for Boulder County

Today's Bird List

Golden Ponds Park and Nature Area, Boulder, Colorado, US

Nov 30, 2024. 8:20 AM - 10:25 AM

Protocol: Traveling 2.0 mile(s)

30 species (+2 other taxa)

Snow Goose 11

Cackling Goose 400

Canada Goose 100

Mallard 20

Ring-necked Duck 10

Common Goldeneye 8

Hooded Merganser 2

Eurasian Collared-Dove 1

Bonaparte's Gull 1, see Bird of the Day

Ring-billed Gull 16

Great Blue Heron 2

Sharp-shinned/Cooper's Hawk 1

Bald Eagle 1

Red-tailed Hawk 1

Red-tailed Hawk (Harlan's) 1

Belted Kingfisher 2

Downy Woodpecker 2

Northern Flicker 4

Blue Jay 6

American Crow 3

Black-capped Chickadee 6

White-breasted Nuthatch 1

American Dipper 1

European Starling 12

American Robin 4

House Sparrow 2

House Finch 8

American Goldfinch 4

Dark-eyed Junco 6

White-crowned Sparrow 1

Song Sparrow 1

Red-winged Blackbird 30

Birds with bold listings are an indication of rarity, high numbers, good observation opportunity, or interesting behavior exhibited.