Black noddy

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Black noddy
Anous minutus by Gregg Yan 02.jpg
At the Tubbataha Reef National Park, Philippines
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Laridae
Genus: Anous
Species:
A. minutus
Binomial name
Anous minutus
Boie, F, 1844
Anous minutus map.svg
Global map of eBird reports of this species
  Nonbreeding
  Breeding
Synonyms

Megalopterus minutus Gray [2]
Anous hawaiiensis [3]

The black noddy (Anous minutus), also known as white-capped noddy, is a species of tern in the family Laridae. It is a medium-sized seabird with black plumage and a white cap that closely resembles the lesser noddy with which it was at one time considered conspecific. The black noddy has slightly darker plumage and dark rather than pale lores.

Contents

Taxonomy

The black noddy was first formally described by German naturalist and lawyer Friedrich Boie in 1844 under its current binomial name. [4] The genus name Anous is ancient Greek for "stupid" or "foolish". The specific name minutus is the Latin for "small". [5]

There are seven subspecies: [6]

Description

The black noddy has a length of 35–37 cm (14–15 in), a wingspan of 66–72 cm (26–28 in) and a weight of 98–144 g (3.5–5.1 oz). It has dark plumage and a pale crown. [8] There is a small white crescent under each eye and a white spot above. It has long tapering wings and a truncated tail. The sharply pointed bill is black. The feet are fully webbed and are black in most subspecies [9] but orange in melanogenys. [10]

Behaviour

These birds may have become known as "noddies" because of the behaviour of both sexes as they constantly dip their heads during their breeding display. They are very tolerant of humans even to the extent that they can be picked up off the nest. They feed on fish and squid which they gather by flying low over the surface of the sea and picking them up. [9] They may associate with other seabirds in areas where predatory fish are driving small fish to the surface. [1]

The nests of these birds consist of a level platform, often created in the branches of trees by a series of dried leaves covered with bird droppings. One egg is laid each season, and nests are re-used in subsequent years. The trees used for this purpose are various but the Pisonia is most often used, and in large trees, there are often several nests. [11] The guano produced by these birds adds large quantities of nutrients to the soil which is of great importance to the plant communities on coral islands. [12]

Distribution

The black noddy has a worldwide distribution in tropical and subtropical seas, with colonies widespread in the Pacific Ocean and more scattered across the Caribbean, central Atlantic and in the northeast Indian Ocean. At sea it is usually seen close to its breeding colonies within 80 km of shore. Birds return to their colonies, or to other islands, to roost at night.

Lady Elliot Island, Qld, Australia

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tern</span> Family of seabirds

Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae, subfamily Sterninae, that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated in eleven genera in a subgroup of the family Laridae, which also includes several genera of gulls and the skimmers (Rynchops). They are slender, lightly built birds with long, forked tails, narrow wings, long bills, and relatively short legs. Most species are pale grey above and white below with a contrasting black cap to the head, but the marsh terns, the black-bellied tern, the Inca tern, and some noddies have dark body plumage for at least part of the year. The sexes are identical in appearance, but young birds are readily distinguishable from adults. Terns have a non-breeding plumage, which usually involves a white forehead and much-reduced black cap.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sooty tern</span> Species of bird

The sooty tern is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans, returning to land only to breed on islands throughout the equatorial zone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater crested tern</span> Seabird in the family Laridae

The greater crested tern, also called crested tern, swift tern, or great crested tern, is a tern in the family Laridae that nests in dense colonies on coastlines and islands in the tropical and subtropical Old World. Its five subspecies breed in the area from South Africa around the Indian Ocean to the central Pacific and Australia, all populations dispersing widely from the breeding range after nesting. This large tern is closely related to the royal and lesser crested terns, but can be distinguished by its size and bill colour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laysan</span> Atoll of Hawaii

Laysan is one of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, located 808 nautical miles northwest of Honolulu. It has one land mass of 1,016 acres (411 ha), about 1 by 1+1⁄2 miles in size. It is an atoll of sorts, although the land completely surrounds Laysan Lake, some 2.4 m (7.9 ft) above sea level, that has a salinity approximately three times greater than the ocean. Laysan's Hawaiian name, Kauō, means "egg".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laysan rail</span> Extinct species of bird

The Laysan rail or Laysan crake was a flightless bird endemic to the Northwest Hawaiian Island of Laysan. This small island was and still is an important seabird colony, and sustained a number of endemic species, including the rail. It became extinct due to habitat loss by domestic rabbits, and ultimately World War II.

<i>Anous</i> Genus of birds

The noddies, forming the genus Anous, is a genus of seabirds in family Laridae which also contains the gulls, terns and skimmers. The genus contains five species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brown noddy</span> Species of bird

The brown noddy or common noddy 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. In India, the brown noddy is protected in the PM Sayeed Marine Birds Conservation Reserve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lesser noddy</span> Species of bird

The lesser noddy, also known as the sooty noddy, is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is found near the coastlines of Comoros, Kenya, India, Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Somalia, Sri Lanka and United Arab Emirates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue noddy</span> Species of bird

The blue noddy or hinaokū or manuohina is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is also known as the blue-grey noddy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey noddy</span> Species of bird

The grey noddy or grey ternlet is a seabird belonging to the family Laridae. It was once regarded as a pale morph of the blue noddy but is now usually considered to be a separate species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laysan honeycreeper</span> Extinct species of bird

The Laysan honeycreeper, also known as the Laysan ʻapapane or Laysan honeyeater, is an extinct species of finch that was endemic to the island of Laysan in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The bird was first recorded in 1828 and in 1892 received its scientific name from Walter Rothschild, who placed it in the genus Himatione along with the ʻapapane. The specific name, fraithii, refers to George D. Freeth, the self-appointed governor of Laysan, but was misspelled. Rothschild attempted to emend it to freethi in a later publication. This was accepted by most subsequent authors throughout the 20th century, and the bird was also considered a subspecies of the ʻapapane, as H. sanguinea freethii, for most of this time. By the 21st century, after further research, the original name was reinstated and it was considered a full species again. As a Hawaiian honeycreeper, a grouping within the finch subfamily Carduelinae, its ancestors are thought to have come from Asia.

References

  1. 1 2 BirdLife International (2020). "Anous minutus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2020: e.T22694799A163885644. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22694799A163885644.en . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ↑ Bartsch, Paul (1922). "A Visit to Midway Island" (PDF). The Auk. 39 (4): 481–488. doi:10.2307/4073570. JSTOR   4073570.
  3. ↑ Rothschild, Lionel Walter; Palmer, Henry; Keulemans, John Gerrard; Frohawk, Frederick William (1893). The avifauna of Laysan and the neighbouring islands: with a complete history to date of the birds of the Hawaiian possessions. London: R.H. Porter.
  4. ↑ Boie, Friedrich (1844). "Nuszüge aus dem Cystem der Ornithologie". Isis von Oken (in German and Latin). 1844. Column 188.
  5. ↑ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp.  48, 256. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  6. ↑ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Noddies, gulls, terns, auks". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  7. ↑ Rothschild, Lionel Walter; Palmer, Henry; Keulemans, John Gerrard; Frohawk, Frederick William (1893). The avifauna of Laysan and the neighbouring islands: with a complete history to date of the birds of the Hawaiian possessions. London: R.H. Porter.
  8. ↑ Gochfeld, M.; Burger, J.; Kirwan, G.M.; Garcia, E.F.J. (2020). "Black Noddy (Anous minutus)". In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. doi:10.2173/bow.blknod.01. S2CID   216431918 . Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  9. 1 2 "Black Noddy". ARKive. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-12-12.
  10. ↑ Hawaii Audubon Society. (2005). Hawaii's birds (6th ed.). Honolulu: Hawaii Audubon Society. ISBN   1-889708-00-3. OCLC   64201016.
  11. ↑ Barnes, A.; Hill, G. J. E. (1989). "Census and distribution of Black Noddy Anous minutus nests on Heron Island, November 1985". Emu. 89 (3): 129–134. Bibcode:1989EmuAO..89..129B. doi:10.1071/MU9890129.
  12. ↑ Allaway, W.G.; Ashford, A.E. (1984). "Nutrient input by seabirds to the forest on a coral island of the Great Barrier Reef". Marine Ecology Progress Series. 19: 297–298. Bibcode:1984MEPS...19..297A. doi: 10.3354/meps019297 .
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