Nest
A loose structure, composed of seaweed, on a mangrove or tree branch. In colonies.
Eggs (Guide)
1; matt, off-white, sparingly blotched and spotted with rufous-brown and purple-grey; ellipsoidal; about 45 x 30 mm. Incubation: by both sexes.
Young
Semi-precocial, ptilopaedic. Fledge in about 40 days.
Subspecies
Forms superspecies with Black Noddy (Anous minutus) and sometimes considered conspecific.
Subspecies at Ashmore Reef not known but probably melanops.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
tenuirostris (Temminck, 1823) - Seychelles, Mascarene Is, and probably Maldives, with possible breeding attempts having taken place in Somalia; non-breeders visit Arabia, Madagascar and rarely Tanzanian coast.
melanops Gould, 1846 - Houtman Abrolhos Is (Western Australia), and formerly Indonesia.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
BirdLife International Species Factsheet