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 its main habitats
Its main habitats in Mississippi, 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.
Coastal dunes and beaches
Birds 127
- Black-throated Green WarblerDendroica virens
- Sooty TernOnychoprion fuscatus
- Black-bellied PloverPluvialis squatarola
- Marbled GodwitLimosa fedoa
- Rock PigeonColumba livia
- Short-billed DowitcherLimnodromus griseus
- Horned LarkEremophila alpestris
- KilldeerCharadrius vociferus
- Nelson's Sharp-tailed SparrowAmmodramus nelsoni
- Purple MartinProgne subis
- Red KnotCalidris canutus
- Sandwich TernThalasseus sandvicensis
Plants 118
- Beach Morning-gloryIpomoea imperati
- Ipomoea cordatotriloba var. cordatotrilobaIpomoea cordatotriloba var. cordatotriloba
- Northern Seaside SpurgeEuphorbia polygonifolia
- Southern Seaside SpurgeEuphorbia bombensis
- Mound-lily YuccaYucca gloriosa
- Agalinis harperiAgalinis harperi
- Panicum amarum var. amarumPanicum amarum var. amarum
- Rough American Barnyard GrassEchinochloa muricata var. muricata
- Northern Seabeach OrachAtriplex mucronata
- Atriplex cristataAtriplex cristata
- Dune Marsh-elderIva imbricata
- Pinewoods FingergrassEustachys petraea
Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)
Birds 89
- Marbled GodwitLimosa fedoa
- Short-billed DowitcherLimnodromus griseus
- American Tree SparrowSpizella arborea
- KilldeerCharadrius vociferus
- Nelson's Sharp-tailed SparrowAmmodramus nelsoni
- Red KnotCalidris canutus
- Seaside SparrowAmmodramus maritimus
- Wilson's PloverCharadrius wilsonia
- Piping PloverCharadrius melodus
- American OystercatcherHaematopus palliatus
- American White PelicanPelecanus erythrorhynchos
- Black SkimmerRynchops niger
Plants 30
- Annual Saltmarsh AsterSymphyotrichum subulatum
- Sandpaper VervainVerbena scabra
- Dwarf ArrowheadSagittaria subulata
- Black NeedlerushJuncus roemerianus
- Carolina Sea-lavenderLimonium carolinianum
- Southern Water-hempAmaranthus australis
- Shoreline SedgeCarex hyalinolepis
- Pink RedstemAmmannia latifolia
- Solidago sempervirens var. mexicanaSolidago sempervirens var. mexicana
- Grassy ArrowheadSagittaria graminea
- Giant BristlegrassSetaria magna
All of coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated) in Mississippi
Sounds, bays and tidal flats
Birds 82
- BuffleheadBucephala albeola
- Common GoldeneyeBucephala clangula
- Sooty TernOnychoprion fuscatus
- Snowy PloverCharadrius nivosus
- Western Snowy PloverCharadrius nivosus nivosus
- Interior Least TernSternula antillarum athalassos
- Red KnotCalidris canutus
- Sandwich TernThalasseus sandvicensis
- Thayer's GullLarus thayeri
- American OystercatcherHaematopus palliatus
- American White PelicanPelecanus erythrorhynchos
- Black SkimmerRynchops niger
Plants 11
- Shoal-grassHalodule wrightii
- Turtle GrassThalassia testudinum
- Heartleaf PlantainPlantago cordata
- Sago PondweedStuckenia pectinata
- Horned PondweedZannichellia palustris
- American WaterwortElatine americana
- Seashore DropseedSporobolus virginicus
- Black MangroveAvicennia germinans
- American EelgrassVallisneria americana
- Widgeon-grassRuppia maritima
- Carolina GrasswortLilaeopsis carolinensis
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)





































