Bird

Forster's Tern

Sterna forsteri

Lives in Louisiana all year and nests here. Found in all 64 parishes, across 6 habitats.

Here: All year
Nesting: Nests here
Range: All 64 parishes
Habitats: 6

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 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.

1 of 6

Coastal dunes and beaches

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

SummerWinterUnconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune); Upper Texas Coast Beach; Louisiana Beach; 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

Ponds, lakes and their shores

Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.

WinterOpen Water (Fresh)

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

Other habitats in its models (40)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Louisiana. Those recorded in Louisiana first, the rest by region.

Elsewhere in the South (25)

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.
Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Summer, beside its main habitat.
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.
Southwest Florida Beach Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
Texas Coastal Bend 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 (13)

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.
Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems Summer, 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.
Open Water (Aquaculture) Summer and winter.
South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
Unconsolidated Shore 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.

All habitats

Seasons in Louisiana

Year-round: nests here, in 20 of 64 parishes.
Winter: does not nest here, in 58 of 64 parishes.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in Louisiana, 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.