Tag Archives: Forsters Tern

First Forster’s

The long wooden pier out into the Indian River Lagoon, behind the Snook Nook bait and tackle shop in Jensen Beach, is often worth a quick look.

Mainly gulls. One little Ruddy Turnstone.

One tern on a piling. Turns out to be a Forster’s Tern, bird number 222 for me.

Flashing slender, silvery wings and an elegantly forked tail, Forster’s Terns cruise above the shallow waters of marshes and coastlines looking for fish. These medium-sized white terns are often confused with the similar Common Tern, but Forster’s Terns have a longer tail and, in nonbreeding plumage, a distinctive black eye patch.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Forsters_Tern/overview

I will keep an eye out for that eye-patched tern, now that I learned this species, a winter visitor around here.