Bird
Forster's Tern
Sterna forsteri
A winter visitor to Arkansas, found in all 75 counties and 3 habitats.
- Here
- Winter and on migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 75 counties
- Habitats
- 3

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- Winter and on migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 75 counties
- Habitats
- 3
- Habitat models
- Summer, Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Arkansas 3
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.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.
Other habitats in its models (45)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Arkansas. Those recorded in Arkansas first, the rest by region.
Elsewhere in the South (28)
- Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
- Louisiana Beach Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer.
- South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Summer, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Shell Hash Beach Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southeast Florida Beach Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southwest Florida Beach Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Texas Coastal Bend Beach Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Upper Texas Coast Beach Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
Northeast (2)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer and winter.
Land cover and other classes (15)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Barren Land Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Tidal Marsh Systems Summer and winter.
- Open Water (Aquaculture) Summer and winter.
- Open Water (Brackish/Salt) Summer and winter.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune) Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer, beside its main habitat.
Seasons in Arkansas
- Migratory: does not nest here, in all 75 counties.
- Winter: does not nest here, in 11 of 75 counties.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 124
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Arkansas. Shared habitat, not food.
- Weak RushJuncus debilis
- Soft RushJuncus effusus
- Juniperus virginiana var. virginianaJuniperus virginiana var. virginiana
- American Water-willowJusticia americana
- Canada Wood-nettleLaportea canadensis
- Rice CutgrassLeersia oryzoides
- White CutgrassLeersia virginica
- Virginia PeppergrassLepidium virginicum
- Northern SpicebushLindera benzoin
- SweetgumLiquidambar styraciflua
- TuliptreeLiriodendron tulipifera
- Bushy SeedboxLudwigia alternifolia
- Virginia BugleweedLycopus virginicus
- Four Flower LoosestrifeLysimachia quadriflora
- Matelea baldwynianaMatelea baldwyniana
- Sensitive FernOnoclea sensibilis
- Royal FernOsmunda spectabilis
- Cinnamon FernOsmundastrum cinnamomeum
- Stiff CowbaneOxypolis rigidior
- Golden RagwortPackera aurea
- Redtop PanicgrassPanicum rigidulum
- SwitchgrassPanicum virgatum
- Largeleaf Grass-of-ParnassusParnassia grandifolia
- Swamp LousewortPedicularis lanceolata
Wildlife 216
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Arkansas. Not sighting records.
- American Black DuckAnas rubripes
- American CootFulica americana
- American PipitAnthus rubescens
- AnhingaAnhinga anhinga
- Bald EagleHaliaeetus leucocephalus
- Bank SwallowRiparia riparia
- Belted KingfisherMegaceryle alcyon
- Black-bellied Whistling-DuckDendrocygna autumnalis
- Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticorax
- Bonaparte's GullChroicocephalus philadelphia
- Canada GooseBranta canadensis
- CanvasbackAythya valisineria
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
- Cliff SwallowPetrochelidon pyrrhonota
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Double-crested CormorantPhalacrocorax auritus
- Eastern KingbirdTyrannus tyrannus
- GadwallAnas strepera
- Great Blue HeronArdea herodias
- Great EgretArdea alba
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Greater YellowlegsTringa melanoleuca
- Green HeronButorides virescens
- Hooded MerganserLophodytes cucullatus
NatureServe Explorer, CC BY 4.0. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP winter habitat model for Forster's Tern Slow streams 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)









































