CalCOFI.io CalCOFI.io open data ecosystem
Species · accepted · checked 2026-08-05

Sterna forsteri

Forster's Tern

WoRMS 159057ITIS 176887key itis:176887
i

2026-08-05: worms_id 159057 via WoRMS TSN crosswalk (status accepted)

Silhouette · Sharon Wegner-Larsen · CC0 1.0 · PhyloPic, drawn from Sterna dougallii
Forster's Tern41 cm
bongo net ring71 cm

max · sealifebase

Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri) on a sign post at Bolsa Chica Conservancy in Huntington Beach, California.
Photo · Kevin Cole from Pacific Coast, USA (en:User:Kevinlcole) · CC BY 2.0 · commons

Forster's tern 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.W CalCOFI holds 37 observations of it in 1 dataset between 1987 and 2022.R

37
observations
37
records
37
sampling events
1987–2022
years
1
datasets

Observed in
i

One row per dataset, one cell per year, darker with more observations — the same strip the front door draws per dataset. Each row ends with the name that dataset uses (dataset_taxon); the accepted name is written once, in the title above. A quiet pill marks a name the authority does not accept.

How big is it
i

Every mark is a measured length with its own source — hover one to read it. The reference objects are _data/size_reference.csv: two of them, the 505 µm bongo mesh and the net's ring, are CalCOFI's own sampling gear.

Groups

calcofi:seabirds

Ways in
i

Read from taxa.json of release v2026.09.11, written at release by calcofi4db::build_taxa_catalog(). The catalog's index is /species/.

Explorerdb-query
ERDDAPCalCOFI's own server, the Seabirds & Marine Mammals table constrained to this taxon
https://erddap.calcofi.io/erddap/tabledap/farallon_bird-mammal.html?&taxon_key=%22itis:176887%22