CreatureData

Lesser noddy

Anous tenuirostris (Temminck, 1823)

LCLeast Concernbirds

The lesser noddy (Anous tenuirostris) is a species in the family Laridae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 92 g to 114 g and live up to 16.1 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Lesser noddy (Anous tenuirostris)
Photo: B.navez · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the lesser noddy

Weight
92 g – 114 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
58 cm – 63 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
16.1 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
16.1 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
marinesrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
35 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
1src for Young per litter or clutch
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 lesser noddy?

LESSER NODDY · WINGSPAN 63 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 63 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the lesser noddy is about 37% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the lesser 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 lesser 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 lesser noddy?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

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.

From the Wikipedia article “Lesser noddy” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lesser_noddy&oldid=1380486713), 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 lesser noddy endangered?

The lesser 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 lesser noddy classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCharadriiformes
  5. familyLaridae
  6. genusAnous
  7. SpeciesAnous tenuirostris (Temminck, 1823)
Other names and names in other languages (46)
  • Indian black noddyEnglish
  • Indian Ocean black noddyEnglish
  • LENOEnglish
  • Sooty noddyEnglish
  • Kleinbruinseeswael (Kleinbruinsterretjie)Afrikaans
  • أبله أسخمArabic
  • أبله صغيرArabic
  • nodi becfíCatalan
  • Nody bělotemennýCzech
  • Hurtyn bachWelsh
  • NoddyDanish
  • SchlankschnabelnoddiGerman
  • Mangrova ŝternoEsperanto
  • stretbeka ŝternoEsperanto
  • Tiñosa picofinaSpanish
  • väike-tõmmutiirEstonian
  • pikkuruskotiiraFinnish
  • Noddi marianneFrench
  • Noddi à bec grêleFrench
  • Geabhróg chiardhubhIrish
  • tankokljuna čigraCroatian
  • indiai noddiHungarian
  • Noddy minoreItalian
  • Sterna stolida minoreItalian
  • インドヒメクロアジサシJapanese
  • mažasis nodisLithuanian
  • tievknābja zīriņšLatvian
  • VorontolohoMalagasy
  • ചെറിയ നോഡി ആളMalayalam
  • Kleine NoddyDutch
  • smånoddyNorwegian
  • rybołówka cienkodziobaPolish
  • nodi-pequenoPortuguese
  • Andorinha-do-mar-preta-menorPortuguese
  • tinhosa-pequenaPortuguese
  • Gaulettercf
  • Малая глупая крачкаRussian
  • Малая кланяющаяся крачкаRussian
  • nody tenkozobýSlovak
  • Mali nodiSerbian
  • mindre noddySwedish
  • Küçük NodiTurkish
  • крячок тонкодзьобийUkrainian
  • 小玄燕鷗Chinese
  • 小玄燕鸥Chinese
  • 小黑燕鷗Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the lesser noddy

Other species in the same genus Anous.

CompareLesser noddy vs Brown noddyLesser noddy vs Black noddyLesser noddy vs Grey noddyLesser noddy vs Blue noddy

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the lesser noddy?

An adult lesser noddy weighs 92 g – 114 g and has a wingspan of 58 cm – 63 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the lesser noddy live?

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

Is the lesser noddy endangered?

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

How long does the lesser noddy live?

The lesser noddy has a recorded lifespan of 16.1 years.

What kind of animal is the lesser noddy?

The lesser noddy (Anous tenuirostris) 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.

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.

Preview the card

APA

CreatureData. (2026). Lesser noddy (Anous tenuirostris). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-noddy

MLA

“Lesser noddy (Anous tenuirostris).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-noddy.

BibTeX
@misc{lesser_noddy_2026,
  title = {Lesser noddy (Anous tenuirostris)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-noddy},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}