Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri)
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. Like all white terns, it is fiercely defensive of its nest and young.
A real field recording of the Forster's Tern. Press play and focus on the rhythm and pitch of each phrase.
Listen
Our streaming copies are mirrored from the original xeno-canto file and transcoded to 96 kbps mono — a modification, so we note it here; the licence for each recording is named in its credit below.
1 recording on this page · licensed CC BY-SA ×1 · mirrored on this server, free for commercial reuse · recorded in Canada, Mexico, United States · xeno-canto lists 123 recordings for this species in total.
Similar species
- Antarctic TernSterna vittataprofile
- Arctic TernSterna paradisaearecording
- Black-bellied TernSterna acuticaudaprofile
- Black-naped TernSterna sumatranaprofile
- Common TernSterna hirundorecording
- Kerguelen TernSterna virgataprofile
Species grouped by shared genus, family and range.