Bird
Least Tern
Sternula antillarum
A summer resident that nests in Mississippi. Found in 25 of 82 counties, across 6 habitats.
- Here
- Summer and on migration
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 25 of 82 counties
- Habitats
- 6

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- Summer and on migration
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 25 of 82 counties
- Habitats
- 6
- Habitat models
- Summer
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.
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.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Other habitats in its models (29)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Mississippi.
- 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.
- Upper Texas Coast Beach Summer.
- Southeast Florida Beach Summer.
- South Florida Shell Hash Beach 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Seasons in Mississippi
- Migratory: does not nest here, in 9 of 82 counties.
- Summer: nests here, in 19 of 82 counties.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 62
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Mississippi. Shared habitat, not food.
- ButtonbushCephalanthus occidentalis
- Ceratiola ericoidesCeratiola ericoides
- False RosemaryConradina canescens
- Coastal Sand FrostweedCrocanthemum arenicola
- Erectleaf WitchgrassDichanthelium erectifolium
- Wright's WitchgrassDichanthelium wrightianum
- Seashore SaltgrassDistichlis spicata
- Slim SpikerushEleocharis elongata
- Fimbristylis carolinianaFimbristylis caroliniana
- Fimbristylis castaneaFimbristylis castanea
- Fuirena longaFuirena longa
- CamphorweedHeterotheca subaxillaris
- Black NeedlerushJuncus roemerianus
- PondberryLindera melissifolia
- Muhlenbergia capillaris var. filipesMuhlenbergia capillaris var. filipes
- Fragrant Water-lilyNymphaea odorata
- MaidencanePanicum hemitomon
- SquareflowerParonychia erecta
- Seashore CrowngrassPaspalum vaginatum
- Quercus myrtifoliaQuercus myrtifolia
- Starrush Whitetop SedgeRhynchospora colorata
- Spreading BeaksedgeRhynchospora divergens
- Small's BeaksedgeRhynchospora globularis var. pinetorum
- Southern BeaksedgeRhynchospora microcarpa
Wildlife 233
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Mississippi. Not sighting records.
- American AvocetRecurvirostra americana
- American BitternBotaurus lentiginosus
- American Black DuckAnas rubripes
- American PipitAnthus rubescens
- American WigeonAnas americana
- Bank SwallowRiparia riparia
- Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticorax
- Boat-tailed GrackleQuiscalus major
- Canada GooseBranta canadensis
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Great Blue HeronArdea herodias
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Lesser Black-backed GullLarus fuscus
- Mottled DuckAnas fulvigula
- Northern PintailAnas acuta
- Northern Rough-winged SwallowStelgidopteryx serripennis
- Piping PloverCharadrius melodus
- Ring-billed GullLarus delawarensis
- Stilt SandpiperCalidris himantopus
- Tree SwallowTachycineta bicolor
- White-faced IbisPlegadis chihi
- Yellow-crowned Night-heronNyctanassa violacea
- American CootFulica americana
- American White PelicanPelecanus erythrorhynchos
NatureServe Explorer, CC BY 4.0. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP summer habitat model for Least 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)

































