Other Names (World)
Blue Noddy, Blue Ternlet, Blue-grey Ternlet, Grey Ternlet, Grey Noddy, Gray Noddy, Blue-grey Noddy, Blue-gray Noddy, Blue-grey Tern, Little Grey Tern, Blue-gray Fairy-Tern, Blue-gray Fairy Ternlet, Necker Island Tern, San Ambrosio Grey Ternlet, Little Blue Petrel, Blue Billy, Patro
American Samoa, Australia (B), Chile (B), Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands (B), New Caledonia, New Zealand (B), Norfolk Island (B), Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Tonga (B), USA.
Vagrant to Japan, Tuvalu.
Population
Estimated population is 27,000 - 120,000 (2010).
Voice
Rapid, sharp, purr, almost like a cats, 'meiow', rising in pitch and frequency to a high squeak, 'qar-ar-ar-ar-air-aik-aaiik'. A quick rattle that lasts from one half to one second.
Blue Noddy (Anous ceruleus) [XC145581]
by id from Nihoa Island, Hawaii, United States (call)
Blue Noddy (Anous ceruleus) [XC75444]
by Eric VanderWerf from Cook Isle, Kiritimati, Kiribati, Kiribati (call)
Nest
A cliff ledge or rock crevice.
Eggs (Guide)
1; greyish-white, sometimes with a few reddish markings.
Young
Precocial, semi-nidifugous. Fledge in about 37 days.
Subspecies
Forms superspecies with Grey Noddy (Anous albivittus) and often considered conspecific.
Some authors have claimed that subspecies skottsbergii and imitatrix of Grey Noddy (Anous albivittus) belong to Blue Noddy (Anous ceruleus), but specimen evidence refutes this.
Procelsterna cerulea (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) was split into Blue Noddy (Anous ceruleus) and Grey Noddy (Anous albivittus) by SACC (2005). This treatment is not followed by the BirdLife International because other potential subspecies of Grey Noddy (Anous albivittus) (albivitta and skottsbergii) are not split by other standard sources: AOU (1998), Christidis and Boles (1994), Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993) and Turbott (1990).
The following 5 subspecies are recognised:
saxatilis (Fisher, WK, 1903) - Marcus I and northern Marshall Is east to north-western Hawaiian Is.
nebouxi (Mathews, 1912) - Tuvalu (Ellice Is) east to Phoenix Is and south to Fiji and western Samoa.
ceruleus (F. D. Bennett, 1840) - Kiritimati (Christmas) I in Line Is, and also Marquesas Is.
teretirostris (Lafresnaye, 1841) - Tuamotu Is, and probably this race likewise in Cook, Austral and Society Is.
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