Bird

Forster's Tern

Sterna forsteri

Lives in Florida all year and nests here. Found in all 67 counties, across 10 habitats.

Here: All year
Nesting: Nests here
Range: All 67 counties
Habitats: 10

Adult Forster's Tern, whole bird — **Adult**. (c) Kathy Richardson, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY. iNaturalist photo 75107708. iNaturalist large derivative; no local crop or retouch.

At a glance

Group: Birds
Here: All year
Nesting: Nests here
Range: All 67 counties
Habitats: 10
Habitat models: Summer, Winter

Where it lives

The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.

Habitats in Florida 10

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 10

SummerWinterSouth Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh; Floridian Highlands Freshwater MarshRegional / representative. Shown: Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Georgia; representative pond ecosystem, a neighboring state.Georgia pond and emergent wetland, Robert 'Bob' Hynes, 1997. Public domain. Source record.

Coastal dunes and beaches

Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach; Unconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune); Southeast Florida Beach; South Florida Shell Hash Beach; Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach; Southwest Florida Beach; Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland; East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland; Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland

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.

SummerWinter

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.

SummerWinter

Freshwater tidal marshes

Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.

SummerWinterFlorida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh

Salt and brackish marshes

Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh; Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh; Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh

Sounds, bays and tidal flats

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.

SummerWinterOpen Water (Brackish/Salt)

Coastal Plain seepage bogs

Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.

SummerBeside its main habitat.Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog

Depression ponds and limesinks

Shallow ponds in Coastal Plain depressions, such as limesinks and the ponds in some Carolina bays, that rise and fall with the seasons.

SummerWinterBeside its main habitat.Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore; Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore

Other habitats in its models (24)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Florida.

Open Water (Aquaculture) Summer and winter.
Barren Land Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
Upper Texas Coast Beach Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
Louisiana Beach Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
Texas Coastal Bend Beach Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
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, beside its main habitat.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer, beside its main habitat.
South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Summer, beside its main habitat.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer, beside its main habitat.
Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems Summer, beside its main habitat.
Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Summer, beside its main habitat.