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Bird

Royal Tern

Thalasseus maximus

A summer resident that nests in Virginia. Found in 21 of 133 counties and cities, across 5 habitats.

Here
Summer
Nesting
Nests here
Range
21 of 133 counties and cities
Habitats
5

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
Summer
Nesting
Nests here
Range
21 of 133 counties and cities
Habitats
5
Habitat models
Summer, Winter

Where it lives

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

Habitats in Virginia 5

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

1 of 5

Coastal dunes and beaches

Core Banks dunes, June 2013
SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Northern Sandy Beach; Unconsolidated 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.

Salt and brackish marshes

Fort Fisher brackish marsh and woodland edge
SummerWinterAtlantic 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.

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

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)
Other habitats in its models (19)

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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer and winter.

All habitats

Seasons in Virginia

  • Summer: nests here, in 21 of 133 counties and cities.

Also found in this habitat

Plants 59

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

Wildlife 218

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