Bird

Forster's Tern

Sterna forsteri

Lives in North Carolina all year and nests here. Found in 78 of 100 counties, across 9 habitats.

Here: All year
Nesting: Nests here
Range: 78 of 100 counties
Habitats: 9

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: 78 of 100 counties
Habitats: 9
Habitat models: Summer, Winter

Where it lives

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

Habitats in North Carolina 9

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

1 of 9

SummerWinterOpen Water (Fresh); Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural LakeshoreRegional / representative. Shown: Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Georgia; representative pond ecosystem, a neighboring state.Georgia pond and emergent wetland, Robert 'Bob' Hynes, 1997. Public domain. Source record.

Coastal dunes and beaches

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

SummerWinterUnconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune); Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland; 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

Freshwater tidal marshes

Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh

Salt and brackish marshes

Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh

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)

SummerBeside its main habitat.Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain SystemsNamed place / source context. Shown: Congaree Swamp National Monument floodplain forest, South Carolina; representative illustration, no exact viewpoint, a neighboring state.fallen (uprooted) tree, John Dawson, by1988. Public domain. Source record.

Depression ponds and limesinks

Shallow ponds in Coastal Plain depressions, such as limesinks and the ponds in some Carolina bays, that rise and fall with the seasons.

SummerWinterBeside its main habitat.Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland; Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore

Other habitats in its models (34)

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

Elsewhere in the South (22)

Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
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 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.
Louisiana Beach Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
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.
Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog Summer, 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.
Upper Texas Coast 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 (10)

Barren Land Summer and winter, 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 North Carolina

Year-round: nests here, in 20 of 100 counties.
Migratory: does not nest here, in 64 of 100 counties.
Winter: does not nest here, in 21 of 100 counties.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in North Carolina, 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.