Forster's Tern

Sterna forsteri

The marsh-breeding tern most birders confuse with Common. Silvery wingtips in winter give it away.

Population: ~120,000 mature individuals (global), increasing
Habitat: Freshwater, brackish, and saltwater marshes with open water; breeds in large inland wetlands and coastal saltmarshes, winters along coasts, estuaries, bays and shorelines
Fun fact: Forster's Tern is the only medium-sized tern species that winters regularly on the US mainland, and in nonbreeding plumage it swaps its black cap for a distinctive black eye-patch that helps distinguish it from the very similar Common Tern.
Range: Breeds in inland northern USA and southern Canada; winters along the southern US coasts (Atlantic and Pacific), Mexico, the Caribbean, and northern Central America, with year-round residents on the Atlantic coast from Virginia to Texas; the only medium-sized tern species that winters commonly on the US mainland; rare vagrant to western Europe
Diet: Primarily small fish (e.g., carp, minnows, sunfish, killifish, sticklebacks, shiners, anchovies, sardines, herring, menhaden) caught by plunge-diving; also takes flying insects (dragonflies, caddisflies) especially during breeding season, and occasionally crustaceans and amphibians
Size: 0.345 m
Wingspan: 0.79 m
Lifespan: 15 years

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