Nests are small scrapes in the sand, and usually two or three eggs are laid. The young are fairly mobile soon after hatching. Both parents feed the young and remain with them until fall migration. Interior least terns favor islands or sandbars along large rivers for nesting. The sand must be mostly clear of vegetation to be used by terns.
Least terns prefer shallow water for fishing.
Water levels must be low enough so that nests stay dry. The historic distribution of the interior least tern was the major river systems of the midwestern United States. These rivers included the Red, Rio Grande, Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio, and Mississippi river systems. Currently, they occur as small remnant colonies throughout their former range. In Oklahoma, interior least terns nest along most of the larger rivers, as well as at the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge near Jet, Oklahoma.