Anous tenuirostris
Silhouette: Cristian Gutierrez-Ibanez · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The lesser noddy (Anous tenuirostris), 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.
The lesser noddy was at one time considered as a subspecies of the black noddy (Anous minutus). The close relationship between the two species was confirmed by a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2016. The first formal description of the lesser noddy was by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1823 under the binomial name Sterna tenuirostris. The genus Anous was introduced by the English naturalist James Francis Stephens in 1826. Anous is Ancient Greek for "stupid" or "foolish". The specific name tenuirostris is from the Latin tenuis for "slender" and -rostris "-billed".
There are two subspecies: The plumage is brownish... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mumbai | 🇮🇳 India |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Lesser Noddy sighting in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, based on 10 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 341st most-seen of the 351 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Lesser Noddy in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, against under 5% in April to February, the lowest months. That is one of iSimangaliso Wetland Park's wettest months, with about 100 mm of rain against 30 mm in July.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Lesser Noddy sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only iSimangaliso Wetland Park, in our data
iSimangaliso Wetland Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Lesser Noddy sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Laridae
The closest relatives of the Lesser Noddy that you can see in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (family Laridae, Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers) are Grey-hooded Gull (about 30%), Caspian Tern (about 30%) and Crested Tern (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Lesser Noddy is recorded against all the birds logged in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (10 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
