Forster's Tern

Description: 14-15" White with pale gray back and wings, black cap, and deeply forked tail, bill orange with black tip lacks black cap in winter, but has distinctive black mark behind eye.	Habitat:.Nests in freshwater marshes, marshy lake edges of southwestern Canada and northern United States, coastal marshes along both Atlantic and Pacific. Fairly common. Often seen along beaches, bays, coastline. Seen in migration through interior of United States and around Great Lakes region.
Nesting: 3 or 4 buff, spotted eggs on a large platform of dead grass lined with finer grasses, usually placed on masses of marsh vegetation, nests in colonies	Range: breeds from Alaska from Massachusetts to Texas, winters along coasts from California and Virginia southward.
Voice: harsh nasal beep	Diet: aquatic invertebrates, Insects taken flying over marshes. Also dead fish, live and dead frogs.

Notes: one of the few exclusively North American terns, so similar to Common Tern, it was not recognized as separate species until 1831. Vigorous nest defense. Nests occasionally parasitized by American Coots and Red-necked Grebes. Hostile to other birds, including Franklin's Gull.

When present in Oklahoma: seen during summer/winter migration, and year-round in a few spots