Forster's Tern
Forster's Tern: Medium tern, pale gray upperparts, black cap, white underparts. Bill is orange, black tip. Wings are pale gray with paler primaries. Tail is pale gray, deeply forked with dark inner edge, white outer edge. Orange legs, feet. Hovers above water before diving for prey.
● Song:
"ki-arr", "za-a-ap", "zrurrr", "beep"
● Foraging & Feeding:
Forster's Tern: Diet consists mostly of fish, but also eats insects, small crustaceans, mollusks, frogs, and tadpoles. Catches fish at surface or by plunge diving into water from a perch or a hover; catches insects on the wing or on the water surface; reportedly eats dead fish and frogs exposed by receding ice; occasionally eats bird eggs.
● Breeding & nesting:
Forster's Tern: One to four olive or buff eggs with brown or olive marks are laid on a large platform of dead grass, lined with finer grass, and usually built on a mass of dead marsh vegetation. Incubation ranges from 23 to 25 days and is carried out by both parents.
● Similar species:
Forster's Tern: Common and Arctic terns have dark outer and white inner tail edges.