Forster’s Tern
Sterna forsteri
Compiled by Liam Molina
Supplemental Information by Jane Tillman, Travis Audubon Volunteer
Recently featured in our August Bird Forecast, the Forster’s Tern is a migrating bird expected to begin returning to Texas in August. These birds are also the only medium-sized tern species to winter within the mainland United States. Looking very similar to the Common Tern, a way to distinguish them is in their choice of habitat, as the Forster’s Tern spends more time in marshes, and spends its winters along Southern coasts. They have like forked tails with a black cap on their heads. While bearing their non-breeding plumage, they bear a distinctive black “eye-patch.”
The Forster’s Tern feeds primarily on fish, plunging to catch fish below the surface. However, it’s also known to forage in the air, hunting insects. When breeding, they favour areas with abundant water, primarily opting for marshes, often nesting atop muskrat houses. They tend to rest on piers, sandbays and man-made structures along with their fellow shorebirds. They have a falling call, similar to gulls and other shorebirds, and chirp high pitched chirps, rattles and screams. These noisy birds are certainly not the type to keep quiet!
Boaters have an excellent chance of encountering a Forster’s Tern. This mostly white long-winged and long-tailed tern with a pale gray back and wings favors perches out in the water, such as on buoys and exposed drowned tree limbs. It also perches on bridges, pilings, and wires. Forster’s Terns rest and loaf alongside gulls and other tern species on the shore and mudflats if raised perches are not available. Unlike gulls, which will swim and rest floating on the water, terns rarely do.
To learn more about birds heading to Texas in August, check out our August Bird Forecast. Learn more about Central Texas birds and bird-related events for all ages at travisaudubon.org or by calling 512-300-BIRD. Follow us at www.facebook.com/travisaudubon
