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Bird

Least Tern

Sternula antillarum

A summer resident that nests in Louisiana. Found in 58 of 64 parishes, across 5 habitats.

Here
Summer and on migration
Nesting
Nests here
Range
58 of 64 parishes
Habitats
5

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
Summer and on migration
Nesting
Nests here
Range
58 of 64 parishes
Habitats
5
Habitat models
Summer

Where it lives

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

Habitats in Louisiana 5

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

1 of 5

Coastal dunes and beaches

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

SummerUnconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune); Upper Texas Coast 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.

Summer

Ponds, lakes and their shores

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

SummerOpen 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.

SummerOpen Water (Brackish/Salt)

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.

SummerOnly within 1,000 m of water.Developed, Open Space; Cultivated Cropland; Pasture/Hay; Disturbed, Non-specific
Other habitats in its models (31)

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

  • Developed, Low Intensity Summer, only within 1,000 m of water.
  • Developed, Medium Intensity Summer, only within 1,000 m of water.
  • Quarries, Mines, Gravel Pits and Oil Wells Summer, only within 1,000 m of water.
  • Barren Land Summer, only within 1,000 m of water.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Summer.
  • Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer.
  • Unconsolidated Shore Summer.
  • Southeast Florida Beach Summer.
  • South Florida Shell Hash Beach Summer.
  • Florida Panhandle Beach Vegetation Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Summer.
  • Southwest Florida Beach Summer.
  • Texas Coastal Bend Beach Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Summer.
  • Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer.
  • Recently Burned Grassland Summer, only within 1,000 m of water.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer.
  • Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer.
  • Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer.
  • Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer.
  • Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer.
  • Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.
  • Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.

All habitats

Seasons in Louisiana

  • Migratory: does not nest here, in 51 of 64 parishes.
  • Summer: nests here, in 26 of 64 parishes.

Also found in this habitat

Plants 42

Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Louisiana. Shared habitat, not food.

Wildlife 249

Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Louisiana. Not sighting records.

NatureServe Explorer, CC BY 4.0. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources