Forster's Tern

Sterna forsteriOrder: CHARADRIIFORMESFamily: Skuas, Gulls, Terns, Skimmers (Laridae)

Forster's Tern Winter Adult - The winter adult Forster’s Tern lacks black cap but has distinctive black eye patch and gray streaking on the head. The bill is entirely black and the feet are orange.

Forster's Tern - The breeding adult Forster’s Tern has pale gray upperparts, black cap and white underparts. The legs and feet are orange. The bill is orange with a black tip.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Forster's Tern

Forster's Tern: Medium tern, pale gray upperparts, black cap, white underparts. Bill is orange, black tip. Wings are pale gray with paler primaries. Tail is pale gray, deeply forked with dark inner edge, white outer edge. Orange legs, feet. Hovers above water before diving for prey.

● Song: "ki-arr", "za-a-ap", "zrurrr", "beep"

● Foraging & Feeding: Forster's Tern: Diet consists mostly of fish, but also eats insects, small crustaceans, mollusks, frogs, and tadpoles. Catches fish at surface or by plunge diving into water from a perch or a hover; catches insects on the wing or on the water surface; reportedly eats dead fish and frogs exposed by receding ice; occasionally eats bird eggs.

● Breeding & nesting: Forster's Tern: One to four olive or buff eggs with brown or olive marks are laid on a large platform of dead grass, lined with finer grass, and usually built on a mass of dead marsh vegetation. Incubation ranges from 23 to 25 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: Forster's Tern: Common and Arctic terns have dark outer and white inner tail edges.

Flight Pattern

Shallow slow graceful flight.

● Range & Habitat: Forster's Tern: Breeds along the Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to Texas and in interior Alberta and California east to the Great Lakes. Spends winters along the coasts from California and Virginia southward. In the west, prefers freshwater marshes, whereas in the east, prefers salt marshes.

^BreedingMonogamous, Loose colonies

^PopulationDeclining

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight5.6 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Forster's Tern

Forster's Tern

Flight Pattern