Bird
Common Tern
Sterna hirundo
Passes through Arkansas on migration. Found in all 75 counties, across 2 habitats.
- Here
- On migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 75 counties
- Habitats
- 2

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- On migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 75 counties
- Habitats
- 2
- Habitat models
- Summer, Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Arkansas 2
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Disturbed and introduced wetlands
Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.
Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.
Other habitats in its models (27)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Arkansas. Those recorded in Arkansas first, the rest by region.
Elsewhere in the South (19)
- Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Florida Panhandle Beach Vegetation Winter.
- Louisiana Beach Summer and winter.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- South Florida Shell Hash Beach Winter.
- Southeast Florida Beach Winter.
- Southwest Florida Beach Winter.
- Texas Coastal Bend Beach Winter.
- Upper Texas Coast Beach Winter.
Northeast (3)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dune and Swale Summer.
Land cover and other classes (5)
- Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Tidal Marsh Systems Summer and winter.
- Open Water (Brackish/Salt) Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune) Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
Seasons in Arkansas
- Migratory: does not nest here, in all 75 counties.
Also found in its main habitats
Its main habitats in Arkansas, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.
Disturbed and introduced wetlands
Birds 121
- Nelson's Sharp-tailed SparrowAmmodramus nelsoni
- Northern WaterthrushSeiurus noveboracensis
- Black TernChlidonias niger
- Black-necked StiltHimantopus mexicanus
- Caspian TernHydroprogne caspia
- Common LoonGavia immer
- Forster's TernSterna forsteri
- King RailRallus elegans
- Pied-billed GrebePodilymbus podiceps
- Red-breasted MerganserMergus serrator
- Western SandpiperCalidris mauri
- Sandhill CraneGrus canadensis
Plants 17
- Slender FimbryFimbristylis autumnalis
- Blue MistflowerConoclinium coelestinum
- BagpodGlottidium vesicarium
- Oklahoma SedgeCarex oklahomensis
- False DaisyEclipta prostrata
- Blunt Spike RushEleocharis obtusa
- Bristly SedgeCarex comosa
- Heart Leaf WillowSalix eriocephala
- Southern Marsh YellowcressRorippa teres
- Sensitive FernOnoclea sensibilis
- White WillowSalix alba
- Zigzag JointvetchAeschynomene rudis
Ponds, lakes and their shores
Birds 66
- American White PelicanPelecanus erythrorhynchos
- BuffleheadBucephala albeola
- Common GoldeneyeBucephala clangula
- Common MerganserMergus merganser
- SanderlingCalidris alba
- Black TernChlidonias niger
- Black-necked StiltHimantopus mexicanus
- Blue-winged TealAnas discors
- Caspian TernHydroprogne caspia
- Common LoonGavia immer
- Forster's TernSterna forsteri
- Interior Least TernSternula antillarum athalassos
Plants 143
- Mudbank CrowngrassPaspalum dissectum
- Longbeak BeaksedgeRhynchospora scirpoides
- Sago PondweedStuckenia pectinata
- Water DawnflowerStylisma aquatica
- Common BladderwortUtricularia macrorhiza
- Horned PondweedZannichellia palustris
- Coastal Plain WillowSalix caroliniana
- Water TupeloNyssa aquatica
- Southern Marsh St. John's-wortTriadenum tubulosum
- Swamp CottonwoodPopulus heterophylla
- KnotgrassPaspalum distichum
- Grassy ArrowheadSagittaria graminea
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP winter habitat model for Common Tern Brackish or salt water only
- USGS Gap Analysis Project range maps (2001), modeled by watershed; migratory gives no dates
- NatureServe Explorer (CC BY 4.0), habitat names
- US Census TIGER/Line counties
- Names follow the USGS Gap Analysis Project (2001)

































