CreatureData

Brown noddy

Anous stolidus (Linnaeus, 1758)

LCLeast Concernbirds

The brown noddy (Anous stolidus) is a species in the family Laridae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 171.5 g to 186 g and live up to 24.9 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Brown noddy (Anous stolidus)
Photo: Gregg Yan · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the brown noddy

Weight
171.5 g – 186 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
82 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
24.9 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
26.2 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
marinesrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
35.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
1src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
3 years – 4 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 brown noddy?

BROWN NODDY · WINGSPAN 82 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 82 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the brown noddy is about 48% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the brown 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 brown noddy is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the brown noddy?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

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.

From the Wikipedia article “Brown noddy” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brown_noddy&oldid=1354645810), 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 brown noddy endangered?

The brown noddy is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the brown noddy classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCharadriiformes
  5. familyLaridae
  6. genusAnous
  7. SpeciesAnous stolidus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms Anous niger, Larus frontalis, Larus griseolus

Other names and names in other languages (80)
  • BlackbirdEnglish
  • CatbirdEnglish
  • Common noddyEnglish
  • Common noddyEnglish
  • Common NodyEnglish
  • CONOEnglish
  • Noddy ternEnglish
  • Grootbruinseeswael (Grootbruinsterretjie)Afrikaans
  • خطاف بنيArabic
  • Магеланова чайкаBulgarian
  • Nodi kantreatBreton
  • Nodi comúCatalan
  • nodi grosCatalan
  • nody obecnýCzech
  • Hurtyn CyffredinWelsh
  • Brun NoddyDanish
  • NoddiGerman
  • BraunnoddiGerman
  • މާރަނގަDivehi
  • bruna ŝternoEsperanto
  • Tiñosa bobaSpanish
  • BubíSpanish
  • CerveraSpanish
  • Cervera pardaSpanish
  • Charrán CaféSpanish
  • Charrán NegroSpanish
  • Charrán-bobo caféSpanish
  • Gaviotín de San FélixSpanish
  • Gaviotín marrónSpanish
  • SeveroSpanish
  • Tiñosa ComúnSpanish
  • Tiñosa PardaSpanish
  • suur-tõmmutiirEstonian
  • پرستودریایی قهوه ایPersian
  • ruskotiiraFinnish
  • Noddi brunFrench
  • Geabhróg dhúrIrish
  • שחפית חומהHebrew
  • smeđa čigraCroatian
  • barna noddiHungarian
  • Camar-angguk coklatIndonesian
  • BrúnþernaIcelandic
  • Sterna stolidaItalian
  • Sterna stolida brunaItalian
  • クロアジサシJapanese
  • rudasis nodisLithuanian
  • brūnais zīriņšLatvian
  • VorontolohobeMalagasy
  • തവിടൻ നോഡി ആളMalayalam
  • Burung Camar AnggokMalay
  • NoddyDutch
  • Noddy BrùinPapiamento
  • MechadelbedaochPalauan
  • Rybitwa brunatnaPolish
  • rybołówka brunatnaPolish
  • بھوری ناڈیWestern Panjabi
  • PaléPortuguese
  • Caié-pretoPortuguese
  • Garajau-pardoPortuguese
  • nodi-castanhoPortuguese
  • tinhosaPortuguese
  • Tinhosa-comumPortuguese
  • tinhosa-escuraPortuguese
  • trinta-réis-escuroPortuguese
  • N'go'ioray
  • Бурая кланяющаяся крачкаRussian
  • Обыкновенная глупая крачкаRussian
  • RuškesdirruNorthern Sami
  • nody hnedýSlovak
  • rjavi nodiSlovenian
  • Smeđi nodiSerbian
  • นกน็อดดี้Thai
  • Ngongo melomeloTongan
  • Kahverengi NodiTurkish
  • крячок бурийUkrainian
  • Звичайний дурний крячокUkrainian
  • 玄燕鷗Chinese
  • 玄燕鷗〔白頂玄燕鷗，白頂黑燕鷗〕Chinese
  • 白顶玄燕鸥Chinese
  • 白顶玄鸥Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the brown noddy

Other species in the same genus Anous.

CompareBrown noddy vs Black noddyBrown noddy vs Lesser noddyBrown noddy vs Grey noddyBrown noddy vs Blue noddy

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the brown noddy?

An adult brown noddy weighs 171.5 g – 186 g and has a wingspan of 82 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the brown noddy live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the brown noddy for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the brown noddy endangered?

The brown noddy is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

How long does the brown noddy live?

The brown noddy has a recorded lifespan of 24.9 years.

What kind of animal is the brown noddy?

The brown noddy (Anous stolidus) 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.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Brown noddy (Anous stolidus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-noddy

MLA

“Brown noddy (Anous stolidus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-noddy.

BibTeX
@misc{brown_noddy_2026,
  title = {Brown noddy (Anous stolidus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-noddy},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}