Lesser Noddy Anous tenuirostris Scientific name definitions

30–34 cm; 97–120 g; wingspan 58–63 cm. Blackish brown , with whitish forehead and crown blending into more ashy grey hindcrown and nape ; lores whitish; sides of neck and throat sooty; iris dark brown, bill black, legs brownish black. Very similar to A. minutus, but smaller and paler, with pale (not dark) lores; pale of head blends more evenly into dark of neck. Juvenile paler brown, but also has white cap. Race melanops similar to nominate, but with blackish stripe above eye extending onto lores.

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Pelagic when not breeding. Nests on oceanic islets.

No regular movements have been reported but the nominate race occurs fairly regularly outside breeding season off E Africa  and regularly visits the Omani coast in small numbers, mainly between mid June and early August (occasionally until November, once in February) (3 Hirschfeld, E. (1994). Observations of seabirds off Dhofar (Oman), 19951–2. Sandgrouse. 14: 62–71. Close , 4 Eriksen, J., and R. Victor (2013). Oman Bird List: the Official List of the Birds of the Sultanate of Oman. Seventh edition. Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman. Close ). Periodic influxes have been reported from the Tanzanian coast in January–March, including over 2000 on a sandbank north of Tanga in March 2013 (5 Fisher, D., and N. Hunter (2016). East African Rarities Committee Report 2013–2015. Scopus 36(2):57–64. Close ). A few individuals have been reported from India (6 Praveen, J., R. Jayapal, and A. Pittie (2014). Notes on Indian rarities—2: waterfowl, diving waterbirds, and gulls and terns. Indian Birds 9(5–6):113–136. Close , 7 Manivannan, P., Mohan, M., Karuthedathu, D. and Muthunarayanan K. (2014). Lesser Noddy Anous tenuirostris from Kanyakumari coast, Tamil Nadu. Indian Birds. 9(3): 72–73. Close ) and occur off Sri Lanka (8 Warakagoda, D., C. Inskipp, T. Inskipp, and R. Grimmett (2012). Birds of Sri Lanka. Helm Field Guides. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Race melanops is described as a permanent resident around the Pelsart Group, Houtman Abrolhos, W Australia. 

Small fish and invertebrates. Feeds by hovering and aerial- or contact-dipping but does not plunge-dive. Feeds in flocks and often associates with Anous stolidus. Young in the nest were mainly fed at dusk on Aride I, Seychelles (9 Ramos, J.A., Maul, A.M., Bowler, J., Monticelli, D. and Pacheco, C. (2004). Laying date, chick provisioning, and breeding success of Lesser Noddies on Aride Island, Seychelles. Condor. 106(4): 887–895. Close ).

Nesting birds produce a grating “arrrk arrrk” repeatedly; also a lower pitched “ugugug”. Also a mechanical buzzing “byowp” when excited (10 Safford, R., Skerrett, A. and Hawkins, F. (2016). Birds of Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands. Helm Field Guides. Bloomsbury, London. Close ).

Breeds in large colonies that may number tens of thousands of pairs. The timing of nesting varies between colonies. Race tenuirostris on Aride I, Seychelles, laid eggs between late May and late Jun in most years during 1995–2002 (9 Ramos, J.A., Maul, A.M., Bowler, J., Monticelli, D. and Pacheco, C. (2004). Laying date, chick provisioning, and breeding success of Lesser Noddies on Aride Island, Seychelles. Condor. 106(4): 887–895. Close ). Race melanops on Houtman Abrolhos Is lays Aug–early Dec, early layers benefiting from more sheltered locations and resulting higher breeding success (11 Surman, C.A. and Wooller, R.D. (1995). The Breeding Biology of the Lesser Noddy on Pelsaert Island, Western Australia. Emu. 95(1): 47–53. Close ). Some colonies  are stable but others shift from year to year. On Cousin and Aride (Seychelles), builds bulky nests 5 m apart in tall trees , occasionally in low bushes. Those on Serpent I, Mauritius, are unusual in nesting on ground. In Houtman Abrolhos nests are substantial platforms of brown algae and excreta on mangroves; nests often close together, only 30 cm apart. Clutch size one egg  . Incubation and fledging periods on Pelsaert I, Houtman Abrolhos (race melanops) averaged 34 and 40 days, respectively (11 Surman, C.A. and Wooller, R.D. (1995). The Breeding Biology of the Lesser Noddy on Pelsaert Island, Western Australia. Emu. 95(1): 47–53. Close ). Incubating adult tolerates close approach; chicks that fall from the nest are not fed but adults may re-lay; tree-nesting habit makes the nests vulnerable to strong winds but hatching success of 60% has been reported in the Houtman Abrolhos (11 Surman, C.A. and Wooller, R.D. (1995). The Breeding Biology of the Lesser Noddy on Pelsaert Island, Western Australia. Emu. 95(1): 47–53. Close ) and was 66–90% during 1995–2002 on Aride I in all but one year (28%) when a severe rainstorm dislodged many nests (9 Ramos, J.A., Maul, A.M., Bowler, J., Monticelli, D. and Pacheco, C. (2004). Laying date, chick provisioning, and breeding success of Lesser Noddies on Aride Island, Seychelles. Condor. 106(4): 887–895. Close ).

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Breeds at a limited number of colonies. The nominate race, from the central and western Indian Ocean, is estimated at 1,200,000 individuals in total (12 Wetlands International (2015). Waterbird Population Estimates. Wetlands International, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Close ); the largest colonies being in the Seychelles (Cousin and Aride) and off Mauritius (Serpent I) (13 Higgins, P. J., and S. J. J. F. Davies, Editors (1996). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 3. Pratincoles to Pigeons. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia. Close ), with c. 40,000 pairs in Chagos archipelago (14 Carr, P. (2015). Birds of the British Indian Ocean Territory, Chagos archipelago, central Indian Ocean. Indian Birds 10(3–4):57–70. Close ). Race melanops, from colonies off Western Australia, was censused at 150,000 individuals in 2009 (15 Garnett, S., Szabo, J. and Dutson, G. (2011). The Action Plan for Australian Birds 248148. CSIRO Publishing. ISBN: 9780643103689. Close ), indicating a recovery following a large decline post-1900, when an unexplained disappearance of large colonies occurred; the recovery began during the mid-20th century and numbers were estimated at  27,000 pairs in the late 1960s and 30,000 pairs in 1986.