Brown Noddy

About the Brown Noddy

The brown noddy, common noddy or noddy tern (Anous stolidus) is a seabird in the family Laridae. The largest of the noddies, it can be told from the closely related black noddy by its larger size and plumage, which is dark brown rather than black. The brown noddy is a tropical seabird with a worldwide distribution, ranging from Hawaii to the Tuamotu Archipelago and Australia in the Pacific Ocean, from the Red Sea to the Seychelles and Australia in the Indian Ocean and in the Caribbean to Tristan da Cunha in the Atlantic Ocean. The brown noddy is colonial, usually nesting on elevated situations on cliffs or in short trees or shrubs. It only occasionally nests on the ground. A single egg is laid by the female of a pair each breeding season.

Source: Wikipedia

Classification

Scientific name

Anous stolidus

Family

Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers

Order

Charadriiformes

Similar species

Other members of the gulls, terns, and skimmers family recorded in North America — a useful place to start if you are not certain of your identification.

• Aleutian Tern Onychoprion aleuticus
• American Herring Gull Larus smithsonianus
• Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea
• Belcher's Gull Larus belcheri
• Black Noddy Anous minutus
• Black Skimmer Rynchops niger
• Black Tern Chlidonias niger
• Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus
• Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla
• Black-tailed Gull Larus crassirostris
• Blue-billed White-Tern Gygis candida
• Blue-gray Noddy Anous ceruleus