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Forster's Tern
Sterna forsteri
Audubon Illustration
John James Audubon, Birds of America (1827-1838). Public domain.
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About the Forster's Tern
Forster's tern (Sterna forsteri) is a tern in the family Laridae. The genus name Sterna is derived from Old English "stearn", "tern", and forsteri commemorates the naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster. It breeds inland in North America in the northern United States and southern Canada, and migrates south to winter in the southern United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, and northern Central America. It is also a rare but annual vagrant in western Europe, and has wintered in Ireland and Great Britain on a number of occasions. This species breeds in colonies in marshes. It nests in a ground scrape and lays two or more eggs.
Source: Wikipedia
Classification
- Scientific name
- Sterna forsteri
- Family
- Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers
- Order
- Charadriiformes
Similar species
Other members of the gulls, terns, and skimmers family recorded in North America — a useful place to start if you are not certain of your identification.
- Aleutian Tern Onychoprion aleuticus
- American Herring Gull Larus smithsonianus
- Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea
- Belcher's Gull Larus belcheri
- Black Noddy Anous minutus
- Black Skimmer Rynchops niger
- Black Tern Chlidonias niger
- Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus
- Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla
- Black-tailed Gull Larus crassirostris
- Blue-billed White-Tern Gygis candida
- Blue-gray Noddy Anous ceruleus
Know when the Forster's Tern turns up near you
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Optics
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