Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls
Brown Noddy
Anous stolidus
- Family
- Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls (Laridae)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
Overview
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.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Range and habitat
Countries
- Angola
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Australia
- Bahamas
- Belize
- Brazil
- Brunei
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Chile
- China
- Christmas Island
- Colombia
- Comoros
- Cook Islands
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Djibouti
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Fiji
- French Guiana
- French Polynesia
- Germany
- Grenada
- Guam
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Honduras
- India
- Indonesia
- Jamaica
- Japan
- Kenya
- Kiribati
- Madagascar
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Marshall Islands
- Mayotte
- Mexico
- Micronesia
- Myanmar
- Nauru
- New Caledonia
- New Zealand
- Nigeria
- Norfolk Island
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Palau
- Panama
- Papua New Guinea
- Philippines
- Puerto Rico
- Reunion
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Samoa
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Saudi Arabia
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Solomon Islands
- Somalia
- Sri Lanka
- Suriname
- Taiwan
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Timor-Leste
- Tonga
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tuvalu
- United States
- Uruguay
- Vanuatu
- Venezuela
- Yemen
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Brown noddy
- eBird: sightings, maps and photos
- xeno-canto: sound recordings
- Birds of the World: full species account (subscription)
- BirdLife DataZone: status and threats
- IUCN Red List (threat status)
- AviList global checklist (taxonomy)
Last updated September 29, 2026.