Bird
Common Tern
Sterna hirundo
Passes through Mississippi on migration. Found in all 82 counties, across 6 habitats.
- Here
- On migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 82 counties
- Habitats
- 6

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- On migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 82 counties
- 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 Mississippi 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.
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 (21)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Mississippi. Those recorded in Mississippi first, the rest by region.
Elsewhere in the South (16)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Louisiana Beach Summer and winter.
- South Florida Shell Hash Beach Winter.
- Southeast Florida Beach Winter.
- Southwest Florida Beach Winter.
- Texas Coastal Bend Beach Winter.
- Upper Texas Coast Beach Winter.
Northeast (3)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dune and Swale Summer.
Land cover and other classes (2)
- Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
Seasons in Mississippi
- Migratory: does not nest here, in all 82 counties.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 52
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Mississippi. Shared habitat, not food.
- Dune Marsh-elderIva imbricata
- Common WaxmyrtleMorella cerifera
- Panicum amarum var. amarulumPanicum amarum var. amarulum
- SwitchgrassPanicum virgatum
- Common Three Square BulrushSchoenoplectus pungens
- Saltmeadow CordgrassSpartina patens
- Virginia Chain-fernAnchistea virginica
- Bushy BluestemAndropogon glomeratus
- Groundsel-treeBaccharis halimifolia
- American BlueheartsBuchnera americana
- Gulf Coast Sea RocketCakile constricta
- Shoreline SedgeCarex hyalinolepis
- ButtonbushCephalanthus occidentalis
- Woody GoldenrodChrysoma pauciflosculosa
- Erectleaf WitchgrassDichanthelium erectifolium
- Seashore SaltgrassDistichlis spicata
- Slim SpikerushEleocharis elongata
- Fimbristylis carolinianaFimbristylis caroliniana
- Fimbristylis castaneaFimbristylis castanea
- Fuirena longaFuirena longa
- Fuirena scirpoideaFuirena scirpoidea
- Yaupon HollyIlex vomitoria
- Black NeedlerushJuncus roemerianus
- PondberryLindera melissifolia
Wildlife 229
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Mississippi. Not sighting records.
- Brown PelicanPelecanus occidentalis
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
- Common LoonGavia immer
- Eared GrebePodiceps nigricollis
- Eastern Brown PelicanPelecanus occidentalis carolinensis
- Greater ScaupAythya marila
- Greater YellowlegsTringa melanoleuca
- Gull-billed TernGelochelidon nilotica
- Hooded MerganserLophodytes cucullatus
- Laughing GullLeucophaeus atricilla
- Least TernSternula antillarum
- Lesser ScaupAythya affinis
- Little Blue HeronEgretta caerulea
- Little GullHydrocoloeus minutus
- Long-billed DowitcherLimnodromus scolopaceus
- Northern ShovelerAnas clypeata
- Piping PloverCharadrius melodus
- Purple GallinulePorphyrio martinica
- Reddish EgretEgretta rufescens
- RedheadAythya americana
- Ring-necked DuckAythya collaris
- Royal TernThalasseus maximus
- SanderlingCalidris alba
- Semipalmated PloverCharadrius semipalmatus
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 Common Tern Brackish or salt water 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)




































