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Bird

Caspian Tern

Hydroprogne caspia

Names as given by USGS GAP.

Migratory and summer in Virginia, breeding, in the USGS range maps. Its habitat models include 7 habitats found here.

Seasons here
Migratory and summer
Breeding
Breeding
Range
76 of 133 counties
Habitats
7

At a glance

Group
Birds
Seasons in Virginia
Migratory and summer
Breeding
Breeding
Counties in known range
76 of 133
Habitat models
Summer, Winter

Where it lives

Southeast habitat models (USGS, 2001 land cover). The bird is not in every place a habitat occurs. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models Summer model Winter model

Habitats in Virginia 7

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there. Shared habitat, not food.

1 of 7

Coastal dunes and beaches

Core Banks dunes, June 2013
Summer and winterUnconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune); Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal WetlandDune grassland. Shown: Core Banks, Cape Lookout, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Core Banks dunes, June 2013, Jarek Tuszyński, June 2013. CC BY-SA 3.0. Source record.

Ponds, lakes and their shores

Yellow butterwort beside a moss-hung coastal pond
Summer and winterOpen Water (Fresh); Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural LakeshoreRegional / representative. Shown: Southern coastal pond margins, Florida and Louisiana to North Carolina; state not identified, a neighboring state.Yellow butterwort beside a moss-hung coastal pond, Marian Ellis Rowan, 1901. Public domain. Source record.

Salt and brackish marshes

Fort Fisher brackish marsh and woodland edge
Summer and winterAtlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt MarshBrackish marsh at a woodland edge. Shown: Fort Fisher, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Fort Fisher brackish marsh and woodland edge, ncwetlands.org, undated. CC0 1.0. Source record.

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 and winter

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.

Summer and winter

Freshwater tidal marshes

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

Summer and winterAtlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal 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.

Summer and winterOpen Water (Brackish/Salt)
Other habitats in its models (30)

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

  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Summer and winter
  • Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter
  • Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter
  • Upper Texas Coast Beach Summer and winter
  • Louisiana Beach Summer and winter
  • Southeast Florida Beach Summer and winter
  • South Florida Shell Hash Beach Summer and winter
  • Florida Panhandle Beach Vegetation Summer and winter
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Summer and winter
  • Southwest Florida Beach Summer and winter
  • Texas Coastal Bend Beach Summer and winter
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer and winter
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Summer and winter
  • Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter
  • Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer and winter
  • Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter
  • Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer and winter
  • South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer and winter
  • Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter
  • Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Summer and winter
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter
  • South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Summer and winter
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter
  • South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter
  • Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Summer and winter

Model settings

Settings in the USGS model, not field measurements.

Habitat names: NatureServe Explorer, CC BY 4.0.

Seasons in Virginia

Modeled range from USGS maps (2001), by watershed. Not sighting records. Migratory gives no dates. USGS Gap Analysis Project range maps

  • Migratory. Nonbreeding. Range includes 76 of 133 counties and cities
  • Summer. Breeding. Range includes 6 of 133 counties and cities

Also found in this habitat

Plants 117

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

Wildlife 219

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

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

Sources