Bird
Caspian Tern
Hydroprogne caspia
Lives in Louisiana all year and nests here. Found in 39 of 64 parishes, across 6 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 39 of 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 6

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 39 of 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 6
- Habitat models
- Summer, Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Louisiana 6
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.
Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.
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.
Forested wetlands with standing water much of the year, such as cypress and gum swamps.
Other habitats in its models (32)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Louisiana.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
- Southeast Florida Beach Summer and winter.
- South Florida Shell Hash Beach Summer and winter.
- Florida Panhandle Beach Vegetation Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Summer and winter.
- Southwest Florida Beach Summer and winter.
- Texas Coastal Bend Beach Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Summer and winter.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter.
- Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer and winter.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer and winter.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Summer and winter.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer and winter.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh 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 Louisiana
- Year-round: nests here, in 9 of 64 parishes.
- Migratory: does not nest here, in 33 of 64 parishes.
- Winter: does not nest here, in 12 of 64 parishes.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 66
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Louisiana. Shared habitat, not food.
- Saltmeadow CordgrassSpartina patens
- ButtonbushCephalanthus occidentalis
- Beach Morning-gloryIpomoea imperati
- Ipomoea pes-capraeIpomoea pes-caprae
- Beach Evening-primroseOenothera drummondii
- Bitter PanicgrassPanicum amarum
- Gulfdune PaspalumPaspalum monostachyum
- Shoreline Sea-purslaneSesuvium portulacastrum
- Red MapleAcer rubrum
- Virginia Chain-fernAnchistea virginica
- Bushy BluestemAndropogon glomeratus
- American BlueheartsBuchnera americana
- Cypress-knee SedgeCarex decomposita
- Shoreline SedgeCarex hyalinolepis
- Sharp-scale SedgeCarex oxylepis
- Water HickoryCarya aquatica
- Coastal SandspurCenchrus spinifex
- Common HornwortCeratophyllum demersum
- Variable WitchgrassDichanthelium commutatum
- Erectleaf WitchgrassDichanthelium erectifolium
- Log FernDryopteris celsa
- Slim SpikerushEleocharis elongata
- Fimbristylis carolinianaFimbristylis caroliniana
- Fimbristylis castaneaFimbristylis castanea
Wildlife 255
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Louisiana. Not sighting records.
- American Black DuckAnas rubripes
- American CootFulica americana
- American PipitAnthus rubescens
- Bald EagleHaliaeetus leucocephalus
- Belted KingfisherMegaceryle alcyon
- Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticorax
- Boat-tailed GrackleQuiscalus major
- Canada GooseBranta canadensis
- CanvasbackAythya valisineria
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Fulvous Whistling-duckDendrocygna bicolor
- Great Blue HeronArdea herodias
- Great EgretArdea alba
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Green HeronButorides virescens
- Horned GrebePodiceps auritus
- Least SandpiperCalidris minutilla
- Lesser Black-backed GullLarus fuscus
- Mottled DuckAnas fulvigula
- Northern PintailAnas acuta
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
- Roseate SpoonbillPlatalea ajaja
- Snowy EgretEgretta thula
- Swamp SparrowMelospiza georgiana
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)






































