Bird
Gull-billed Tern
Gelochelidon nilotica
A summer resident that nests in Virginia. Found in 25 of 133 counties and cities, across 6 habitats.
- Here
- Summer
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 25 of 133 counties and cities
- Habitats
- 6

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- Summer
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 25 of 133 counties and cities
- 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 Virginia 6
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.



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.
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 (20)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Virginia.
- Developed, Low Intensity Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water, for banks and other nest sites.
- 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 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.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dune and Swale Summer and winter.
- Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter.
- South Texas Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Summer and winter.
Seasons in Virginia
- Summer: nests here, in 25 of 133 counties and cities.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 75
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Virginia. Shared habitat, not food.
- Largeleaf PennywortHydrocotyle bonariensis
- Bigleaf Marsh-elderIva frutescens
- Dune Marsh-elderIva imbricata
- Black NeedlerushJuncus roemerianus
- Seashore MallowKosteletzkya pentacarpos
- Rice CutgrassLeersia oryzoides
- Welsh MudwortLimosella australis
- Marsh SeedboxLudwigia palustris
- PeppervineNekemias arborea
- Narrowleaf Pond-lilyNuphar sagittifolia
- Water TupeloNyssa aquatica
- Swamp TupeloNyssa biflora
- Royal FernOsmunda spectabilis
- Panicum amarum var. amarulumPanicum amarulum
- MaidencanePanicum hemitomon
- Panicum virgatum var. virgatumPanicum virgatum var. virgatum
- KnotgrassPaspalum distichum
- Green Arrow-arumPeltandra virginica
- Loblolly PinePinus taeda
- Seabeach KnotweedPolygonum glaucum
- Live OakQuercus virginiana
- Starrush Whitetop SedgeRhynchospora colorata
- Shortbeak BeaksedgeRhynchospora nitens
- Swamp RoseRosa palustris
Wildlife 242
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Virginia. Not sighting records.
- American Black DuckAnas rubripes
- American CootFulica americana
- American PipitAnthus rubescens
- Bald EagleHaliaeetus leucocephalus
- Belted KingfisherMegaceryle alcyon
- Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticorax
- Boat-tailed GrackleQuiscalus major
- Canada GooseBranta canadensis
- CanvasbackAythya valisineria
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Great Blue HeronArdea herodias
- Great EgretArdea alba
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Green HeronButorides virescens
- Horned GrebePodiceps auritus
- Least SandpiperCalidris minutilla
- Lesser Black-backed GullLarus fuscus
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
- Red-breasted MerganserMergus serrator
- Snowy EgretEgretta thula
- Swamp SparrowMelospiza georgiana
- Tree SwallowTachycineta bicolor
- Yellow-crowned Night-heronNyctanassa violacea
- American AvocetRecurvirostra americana
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 Gull-billed 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)










































