Anous stolidus
Silhouette: Cristian Gutierrez-Ibanez · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
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. In India, the brown noddy is protected in the PM Sayeed Marine Birds Conservation Reserve.
The first formal description of the brown noddy was by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Sterna stolida. The genus Anous was introduced by the English naturalist James Francis Stephens in 1826. The genus name Anous is Ancient Greek for "stupid" or "foolish". The specific... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isla del Coco National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Galápagos Islands | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 3 | Coiba National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 4 | Padre Island National Seashore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Komodo National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 6 | Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | Bastimentos Island National Marine Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 8 | Ningaloo Marine Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 9 | Marino Ballena National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | Tortuguero National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 11 | Corcovado National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 12 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 13 | Cahuita National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 14 | Las Baulas Marine National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 15 | Raja Ampat | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 16 | Manuel Antonio National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salvador | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parc des oiseaux | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Leofoo Village Theme Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Noddy sighting in Padre Island National Seashore on a given day, based on 18 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 72nd most-seen of the 171 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April to June
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Noddy in Padre Island National Seashore on a given day, against under 5% in July to March, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brown Noddy sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 16
Of the 16 parks where we can rate Brown Noddy sightings, Padre Island National Seashore ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Isla del Coco National Park (Costa Rica, about 70%), Galápagos Islands (Ecuador, about 60%) and Coiba National Park (Panama, about 10%).
Same family: Laridae
The closest relatives of the Brown Noddy that you can see in Padre Island National Seashore (family Laridae, Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers) are Laughing Gull (about 90%), Royal Tern (about 80%) and Forster's Tern (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brown Noddy is recorded against all the birds logged in Padre Island National Seashore (18 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.
