Bird

Common Tern

Sterna hirundo

Passes through West Virginia on migration. Found in all 55 counties, across 2 habitats.

Here: On migration
Nesting: Not known to nest here
Range: All 55 counties
Habitats: 2

Adult Common Tern, whole bird — **Adult**. (c) Bill Keim, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY. iNaturalist photo 533458379. iNaturalist large derivative; no local crop or retouch.

At a glance

Group: Birds
Here: On migration
Nesting: Not known to nest here
Range: All 55 counties
Habitats: 2
Habitat models: Summer, Winter

Where it lives

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

Habitats in West Virginia 2

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

1 of 2

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

Ponds, lakes and their shores

Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.

SummerOpen Water (Fresh)

Other habitats in its models (27)

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

Elsewhere in the South (19)

Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland Summer.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Summer.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Summer.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Summer.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Summer.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer.
Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
Florida Panhandle Beach Vegetation Winter.
Louisiana Beach Summer and winter.
Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
South Florida Shell Hash Beach Winter.
Southeast Florida Beach Winter.
Southwest Florida Beach Winter.
Texas Coastal Bend Beach Winter.
Upper Texas Coast Beach Winter.

Northeast (3)

Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer.
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dune and Swale Summer.

Land cover and other classes (5)

Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Tidal Marsh Systems Summer and winter.
Open Water (Brackish/Salt) Summer and winter.
Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
Unconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune) Summer and winter.
Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.

All habitats

Seasons in West Virginia

Migratory: does not nest here, in all 55 counties.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in West Virginia, 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.