Forster's Terns at Scipio Lake - Adventures of an ADD Birdwatcher

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May…a beautiful sunny day drive…but where to? How about over to Millard County in Utah to see Forster’s Terns at Scipio Lake! I like to visit Scipio Lake. I’ve seen so many different birds here throughout the spring, summer and fall, but this particular day I was in for a show with Forster’s Terns. Although it is a beautiful 5965 foot elevation reservoir I like to visit, it gets frozen and snowed over in the winter time. Even so, come spring, summer and fall, it’s a great place to go birding. One reason I like Scipio Lake is that it’s shared with birds, AND with grazing cattle. Nevertheless, there is plenty of water for all!

The area around the lake is a sagebrush habitat where cow grazing occurs. My favorite spot on the dirt road is where a small rushing stream flows into the lake from the right. It then flows through the sagebrush under the dirt road through a large culvert. The stream then flows over rocks and has steep banks leading down to it. Most of the time, I have seen some great birds at this tiny stream.

In the sagebrush sea of Millard County lies Scipio Lake. Flying over it is a majestic Golden Eagle while various water fowl sit below in the water. Water plants lie along the surface of the lake and provide some greens for the water fowl.

Bull grazing by Scipio Lake Utah — Notice the big bull grazing in the sagebrush? I shot this photo from the car with a zoom lens! I gave this bull all the room he needed!

Western Meadowlark Singing in Sagebrush — While riding with the windows down on the dirt path, I pleasantly surprised to hear the beautiful song of a Western Meadowlark from the sagebrush. What a beautiful song they have!

Forster’s Terns… Sights, Sounds and Dives!

It wasn’t long before the movement and contrast of the white birds against the background of junipers and pinon pines on the mountains ahead caught my attention. The stream that flowed through the concrete opening into the lake was the destination of this Tern. I watched the unique circling of the Tern over the stream as if to spot fish, then it made sounds reminiscent of an indian war whoop before diving head first into the water. Seriously!

Forster's Tern flying over sagebrush habitat at Scipio Lake — Flying not too high above me were the Forster’s Terns. They were flying towards the stream just off of Scipio Lake.

Forster's Tern in flight — The Forster’s Tern had circled over the stream and turned back to circle again.

Forster's Tern flying over stream at Scipio Lake — The Forster’s Tern would make several circular flights over the flowing stream.

Forster’s Terns Facts

Terns are in the family of Laridae and are in the species of Sterna forsteri. Terns are waterbirds and most of them get their food by diving, or get insects from the water surface. Some terns are hard to distinguish one from another due to wing tip colors, bill length and color, and not to mention feet color. Some features of the Forster’s Terns to look for:

Size: Wingspan 31 inches. Length: 13 inches. Weight: 6 ounces
Bill: orange-red bill with dark tip
Feet: orange
Black Cap: Breeding adults have a full black cap
Habitat for nests: Marshes, freshwater, salt, or brackish. Nests on the ground in mud or sand, on the top of floating dead or live plants, or in marsh plants. Sometimes they will use old Grebe nests or muskrat lodges.
Boat wakes may occasionally flood their nests.
Food: Small fish, crustaceans, some insects

Forster's Tern back view at Scipio Lake — The topside of the Tern in flight with both its wings and tail feathers spread out was angelic!

Forster's Tern diving — No kidding, the last circular flight over the stream just before diving, the Forster’s Tern would let out a sound that sounded to me like an Indian war whoop. As silly as this sounds, I instinctively looked around the scenery, as if I would see and Indian advancing towards me on a horse.

Forster's Tern diving under water — Forster’s Terns can dive from just a few feet to upwards of 50 feet. They feed on fish up to 4 inches long. I could see them come up with small fish of that size when they came up from diving.

Forster's Tern leaving the water — After the circular flight over the stream, the Forster’s Tern let out its “war whoop sound,” dove into the water, then came up from the water and flew upwards.

Hiding in Plain View

Sometimes, it’s easy for me to get so focused on one bird that I don’t see who else might be present. Birds that just perch, wait and watch with little to no movement makes them hard to even notice. Such was the case with these gorgeous Black-crowned Night Herons. The one standing in the water behind the fencing was moving about looking downward into the water and caught my attention. That’s when I noticed the other two perched on the fence post going up the side bank.

In spite of them having the word “night” in their name, everyone I have ever seen in my life has been in the daytime. However, they are classified as primarily nocturnal. This is a stocky bird with short legs and feeds on mollusks, fish, frogs and crustaceans. They were adorable to watch and it was way cool to watch the herons.

Trying to watch the Forster’s Terns and their dives, I spotted some movement further down the small running stream at Scipio Lake. There were 2 small ducks and three Black-crowned Night Herons. What a great surprise that was! Can you find all three?

To say nothing of the Forster’s Terns, and Black-crowned Night Herons, a pair of Western Grebes surfaced in the lake on the other side of the stream.

An Hour Well Spent

All-in-all, it was a great hour watching the Forster’s Terns at Scipio Lake as well as the other birds there. This will always be one of my favorite local places to go birding.Hope to see them again!

Happy Birding!

Forster’s Terns at Scipio Lake