Their breeding habitat is large lakes and ocean coasts in North America (including the Great Lakes), and locally in Europe (mainly around the Baltic Sea and Black Sea), Asia, Africa, and Australasia (Australia and New Zealand).
Caspian Sea | Prince Caspian | The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian | Sooty Tern | Caspian Tern | Arctic Tern | White Tern | Fairy Tern | tern | Sandwich Tern | Prince Caspian (character) | Common Tern | Antarctic Tern | Tern | Royal Tern | River Tern | Little Tern | Caspian Gull | Caspian Flotilla | Astrakhan-Caspian Military Flotilla | Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline | South American Tern | sooty tern | New Zealand Fairy Tern | Little White Tern | Least Tern | Large-billed Tern | Forster's Tern | Damara Tern | Common tern |
Seriously threatened birds that share the same South Bay habitat include the Snowy Plover and California Least Tern, while less-threatened birds including Black-necked Stilts, American Avocets, Forster's Terns, and Caspian Terns are also preyed upon by the abnormally large flocks of California Gulls.
Migratory birds find refuge in the wetland and coastal regions and species that temporarily inhabit the area include the White-bellied Sea Eagle, Fork-tailed Swift and the Caspian Tern.
The site has been identified by BirdLife International as an IBA because it has supported significant numbers of Freckled and Pink-eared Ducks, Grey Teals, Hardheads, Australian Pelicans, Banded Stilts, Red-necked Avocets and Caspian Terns.
Other birds found in the region include the Australian Pelican, Silver Gull, Royal Spoonbill, Caspian and Crested Terns, White-fronted Chat, Sacred Ibis, Red-necked Stint, Little Pied Cormorant and Pied Oystercatcher.