Forster’s Tern is another winter visitor to Fort Bend that is quite common over our ponds and lakes during winter. Graceful fliers they glide above ponds, then abruptly plunge into the water to fish.
In winter they have only a black marking from the eye
to the ear; but during summer breeding, adults take on a distinctive black cap.
Forster’s Terns breed in marshes and have interesting floating nests that can
co-mingle eggs of other tern species.
White to light gray, this 13 to 14 inch
tern lives on the Gulf coastal waters year round, but many migrate to summer
breeding grounds in the Rocky Mountains; eastern North and South Dakota;
Western Minnesota; as well as lower, central Canada.
Photos copyrighted by Quail Valley resident and international birder Margaret Sloan. View her international and national bird pictures by pressing this link.
See a bird you don't recognize in Fort Bend? Margaret has photographed 150+ bird species just in her suburban backyard alone. Narrow your initial search by viewing her full photo album of local birds, Birds of Quail Valley by pressing this link. They are organized by types of birds, so if it's a water bird for example, you may find one that helps you narrow your search. Then if you "google in" the name of the bird, you'll get info and all kinds of information and images. Sometimes if a species is remarkably different from adult you may find nothing, contact us and we'll do our best to help.
Researched and posted by Janice Scanlan
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