---
title: "Forsters stern"
description: "Sterna forsteri — Vogels. Forster's tern (Sterna forsteri) is a tern in the family Laridae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/forster-s-tern
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Forsters stern

> Sterna forsteri — Vogels. Forster's tern (Sterna forsteri) is a tern in the family Laridae.

- Scientific name: *Sterna forsteri*
- Category: `birds` (Vogels)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Meren en rivieren)
- iNaturalist observations: 36125
- Wikidata: [Q430529](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q430529)
- iNaturalist taxon: [4457](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4457)

## Names

- en: Forster's Tern
- de: Forsterseeschwalbe
- es: Charrán de Forster
- fr: Sterne de Forster
- nl: Forsters stern
- pt: Gaivina-de-forster
- pl: Rybitwa czarnoucha

## Countries with the most observations

US (28900), CA (1411), MX (1247), NI (37), GB (21), FR (17), HN (11), IE (6), CR (5), PA (5), SV (4), BM (3)

## Summary

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…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forster%27s_tern

## Photo

![Forsters stern](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/forster-s-tern/medium.jpg)

Photo: Mike Mulqueen · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/14167648

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/forster-s-tern?lang=nl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).