Have you heard of a lesser noddy?
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (325854)
Rockingham, Australia
July 8, 2020 8:15am CST
Some birds have quite funny names and one of those is the ‘lesser noddy’. These little birds weigh around 100 grams (3.5 ounces). The Australian Lesser Noddy (Anous tenuirostris melanops) has a wingspan of about 60cm. They have a pale grey crown with the body slightly darker. The area around the eye is often black.
It breeds and nests on three islands on the Abrolhos Island group off the coast of Geraldton in West Australia’s (WA) Midwest region.
Earlier this year, after a 'once-in-a-decade' storm, hundreds of the birds were swept away and washed up on beaches between Perth and Albany. Only 35 birds were rescued and ultimately only 18 survived to be returned to the Paelsart Island, one of the Abrolhos group.
The species is listed as 'threatened' so it's good that at least these 18 were saved.
Photo courtesy: Selvaganesh17 / CC BY-SA (
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
14 people like this
14 responses
@xFiacre (12597)
• Ireland
8 Jul 20
@Orson_Kart I'd pay good money to see that bird singing C'mon feel the noise.
3 people like this
@MALUSE (69413)
• Germany
9 Jul 20
@Orson_Kart 'greater' is not the opposite of 'lesser'. The opposite is 'smaller'.
It's: little, less, least much, more, most
@owlwings Am I right?
2 people like this
@LadyDuck (458230)
• Switzerland
9 Jul 20
@JudyEv For the little Greek we did in school, I think to remember that anoos means "silly", tenuis surely means faint or feable in Latin more than "slender", we sill use almost the identical word in Italian (tenue). May be the bird has not a strong beak and it's not very smart.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325854)
• Rockingham, Australia
9 Jul 20
I couldn't find a reason for the name. According to Wikipedia, 'Anous is Ancient Greek for "stupid" or "foolish". Tenuirostris is from the Latin tenuis for "slender" and -rostris "-billed". There is no mention of it nodding its head which is what I was thinking.
@Carmelanirel2 (8084)
• United States
8 Jul 20
No, and what a name, "Lesser Noddy" doesn't sound like a good name, poor bird. I am glad some got saved.
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (95261)
• Marion, Ohio
8 Jul 20
Glad they save those. But I think ot needs a new name.It feels offended at being called lesser
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (95261)
• Marion, Ohio
8 Jul 20
@JudyEv Maybe it meant something else a long time ago.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (156271)
• United States
8 Jul 20
That's too bad about the storm. Hopefully they will survive.
1 person likes this
