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WetlandPlatform nestMedium · 149 g
What the Forster's Tern sounds like
ID tip
Forster's tern is a medium-sized tern with a slender body, deeply forked long tail and relatively long legs. In its non-breeding plumage, the crown is white and a black comma-shaped patch covers the eye and the ear-covert. The wings are gray with the primaries being dark silvery gray, while the underside is white. The bill is black and the legs are a dull brownish red. When breeding, an intense black cap extending down the neck appears. The wings and the back are pale gray while the underside is bright white. It has a black-tipped orange bill and bright orange legs. Voice: The common call of the Forster's tern is a descending kerr. The threat call used in defensive attack is a low harsh zaar. A succession of kerrs is used by the female as a begging call during courtship.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
When to see the Forster's Tern
One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is May, the month with the most records.
Where to see the Forster's Tern
The map shades 22 countries with regular records, and 6 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.
Recorded as a rare visitor in France, Belgium, Spain, Netherlands, Colombia, St. Martin.
About the Forster's Tern
Forster's tern 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.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
Common TernSterna hirundoThe nominate subspecies of the common tern is 31–35 cm (12–14 in) long, including a 6–9 cm (2.4–3.5 in) fork in the tail, with a 77–98 cm (30–39 in) wingspan.
Arctic TernSterna paradisaeaThe Arctic tern is a tern in the family Laridae.
River TernSterna aurantiaIt is a medium-large tern, 38–46 cm long with an 80–85 cm wingspan, distinctly larger than any other species in Sterna and more comparable in size to a Sandwich tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis) or a lesser crested tern (T. bengalensis).
Side by side: Common Tern vs Forster's Tern · Forster's Tern vs River Tern
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