Bird
Caspian Tern
Hydroprogne caspia
Lives in Florida all year and nests here. Found in all 67 counties, across 8 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 8

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 8
- Habitat models
- Summer, Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Florida 8
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.


Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)
Tidal marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts where the source does not say whether the water is fresh, brackish or salt. A stated salinity files the marsh under freshwater tidal marshes or salt and brackish marshes instead.
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.
Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.
Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.
Salt and brackish open water of sounds, bays and estuaries, with the mud and sand flats and seagrass beds that tides cover and uncover; the vegetated marsh is salt and brackish marshes.
Other habitats in its models (17)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Florida.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
- Upper Texas Coast Beach Summer and winter.
- Louisiana Beach Summer and winter.
- Texas Coastal Bend Beach Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer and winter.
- Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Summer and winter.
- South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
- Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Summer and winter.
Seasons in Florida
- Migratory: does not nest here, in 36 of 67 counties.
- Winter: does not nest here, in 38 of 67 counties.
- Summer: nests here, in 8 of 67 counties.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 208
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Florida. Shared habitat, not food.
- Common WaxmyrtleMorella cerifera
- Sea OatsUniola paniculata
- Groundsel-treeBaccharis halimifolia
- Dune Marsh-elderIva imbricata
- Black NeedlerushJuncus roemerianus
- Saltmeadow CordgrassSpartina patens
- Seashore SaltgrassDistichlis spicata
- Yaupon HollyIlex vomitoria
- Live OakQuercus virginiana
- Common Three Square BulrushSchoenoplectus pungens
- Shoreline Sea-purslaneSesuvium portulacastrum
- Saltmarsh CordgrassSpartina alterniflora
- MaidencaneHymenachne hemitomon
- Muhlenbergia capillaris var. filipesMuhlenbergia capillaris var. filipes
- Sand Live OakQuercus geminata
- Starrush Whitetop SedgeRhynchospora colorata
- Coastal Plain WillowSalix caroliniana
- Serenoa repensSerenoa repens
- Blue Water-hyssopBacopa caroliniana
- Sea OxeyeBorrichia frutescens
- ButtonbushCephalanthus occidentalis
- Tropical WaxweedCuphea aspera
- Northern Seaside SpurgeEuphorbia polygonifolia
- Fragrant Water-lilyNymphaea odorata
Wildlife 254
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Florida. Not sighting records.
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
- Common LoonGavia immer
- Common TernSterna hirundo
- Common YellowthroatGeothlypis trichas
- Cooper's HawkAccipiter cooperii
- Hooded MerganserLophodytes cucullatus
- Laughing GullLeucophaeus atricilla
- Least TernSternula antillarum
- Lesser ScaupAythya affinis
- Little Blue HeronEgretta caerulea
- Long-billed DowitcherLimnodromus scolopaceus
- MallardAnas platyrhynchos
- Marsh WrenCistothorus palustris
- Northern CardinalCardinalis cardinalis
- Northern ShovelerAnas clypeata
- Painted BuntingPasserina ciris
- Palm WarblerDendroica palmarum
- Peregrine FalconFalco peregrinus
- Purple GallinulePorphyrio martinica
- Red-tailed HawkButeo jamaicensis
- Red-throated LoonGavia stellata
- Red-winged BlackbirdAgelaius phoeniceus
- RedheadAythya americana
- Ring-necked DuckAythya collaris
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 Caspian 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)










































