Black noddy
Anous minutus F. Boie, 1844
The black noddy (Anous minutus) is a species in the family Laridae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 97.5 g to 112.4 g and live up to 21.8 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the black noddy
- Weight
- 97.5 g – 112.4 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 69 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 21.8 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 27.1 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- marinesrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 34.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 2 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
How big is the black noddy?
Where does the black noddy live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The black noddy is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the black noddy?
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.
From the Wikipedia article “Black noddy” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black_noddy&oldid=1373731208), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the black noddy endangered?
The black noddy is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the black noddy classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyLaridae
- genusAnous
- SpeciesAnous minutus F. Boie, 1844
Other names and names in other languages (55)
- White-capped noddyEnglish
- أبله أسودArabic
- أبله أسود ذو التاج الأبيضArabic
- nodi negreCatalan
- nody bělotemennýCzech
- nody bělohlavýCzech
- Hurtyn duWelsh
- Sort NoddyDanish
- WeißkopfnoddiGerman
- Karba ŝternoEsperanto
- blankĉapa ŝternoEsperanto
- Tiñosa menudaSpanish
- Cervera negraSpanish
- Charrán Corona BlancaSpanish
- Charrán Negro PequeñoSpanish
- Charrán-bobo negroSpanish
- Gaviotín oscuroSpanish
- Tiñosa NegraSpanish
- tume-tõmmutiirEstonian
- tummaruskotiiraFinnish
- Noddi noirFrench
- NoioHawaiian
- bjelokapa čigraCroatian
- fekete noddiHungarian
- Camar-angguk hitamIndonesian
- SvartþernaIcelandic
- Noddy neroItalian
- Sterna stolida neraItalian
- ヒメクロアジサシJapanese
- juodasis nodisLithuanian
- koku zīriņšLatvian
- Burung Camar UbanMalay
- witkapnoddyDutch
- Noddy PretoPapiamento
- Noddy PretuPapiamento
- BedaochPalauan
- rybołówka atolowaPolish
- IgualéPortuguese
- Caié-pretoPortuguese
- Garajau-de-cabeça-brancaPortuguese
- nodi-pretoPortuguese
- tinhosa-de-barretePortuguese
- trinta-réis-pretoPortuguese
- Чёрная кланяющаяся крачкаRussian
- ČáhppesdirruNorthern Sami
- nody bielohlavýSlovak
- sajasti nodiSlovenian
- Crni nodiSerbian
- svart noddySwedish
- Ngongo ʻuliʻuliTongan
- Kara NodiTurkish
- крячок атоловийUkrainian
- 玄燕鸥Chinese
- 黑玄燕鷗Chinese
- 黑玄燕鷗〔黑燕鷗〕Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the black noddy
Other species in the same genus Anous.
Brown noddy
Anous stolidus
Lesser noddy
Anous tenuirostris
Grey noddy
Anous albivitta
Blue noddy
Anous ceruleus
CompareBlack noddy vs Brown noddyBlack noddy vs Lesser noddyBlack noddy vs Grey noddyBlack noddy vs Blue noddy
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the black noddy?
An adult black noddy weighs 97.5 g – 112.4 g and has a wingspan of 69 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the black noddy live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the black noddy for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the black noddy endangered?
The black noddy is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the black noddy live?
The black noddy has a recorded lifespan of 21.8 years.
What kind of animal is the black noddy?
The black noddy (Anous minutus) belongs to the family Laridae in the order Charadriiformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Black noddy (Anous minutus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-noddy
“Black noddy (Anous minutus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-noddy.
@misc{black_noddy_2026,
title = {Black noddy (Anous minutus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-noddy},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}