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PLATE 50: NODDIES AND SKIMMERS
Brown Noddy Anous stolidus sv, mb
L: 43. W: 83. Size of Sandwich Tern with long, wedge-shaped tail (with shallow fork when spread)
and long black bill. Dull chocolate-brown except for pale ash-grey crown, which grades into
white forehead and contrasts sharply with black lores; may appear white-capped in abraded birds
in strong light; underwing-coverts contrast clearly with blackish-brown flight feathers (smaller
Lesser Noddy has all-brown underwing). Juvenile has crown varying from grey-brown to whitish;
immatures (up to three years old) are extremely abraded, appearing paler than adults. Separated
from young Sooty Tern by darker underwing-coverts (can be whitish in Sooty) and shape of tail.
Usually flies low over water with slower more languid wingbeats than Lesser Noddy. Feeds by
hovering or banking before swooping low to snatch prey from surface; often in mixed flocks of
feeding terns and Persian Shearwaters. Voice At breeding site deep, guttural, corvid-like kwok-
kwok, karruk or krao. Habitat Maritime; nests colonially on rocky islets and cliffs. Note Present in
hatched area in winter. [Alt: Common Noddy]Lesser Noddy Anous tenuirostris sv
L: 32. W: 60. Very similar to Brown Noddy but smaller (size of Common Tern), shorter-tailed and
with proportionately longer, thinner bill; lacks narrow black forehead band over bill and usually
has pale ash-grey (not white) forehead and crown, lacking sharp demarcation with black lores;
dark underwing without contrast between flight feathers and wing-coverts of Brown Noddy (but
reflecting light may make underwing-coverts appear paler). Juvenile generally less pale-crowned
than Brown Noddy. In flight, wings narrower, wingbeats faster, the ‘jizz’ is lighter than the bulkier
Brown Noddy, but separation difficult at distance. Habitat Maritime. Note Non-breeding summer
visitor in small numbers to Masirah Island area, Oman (hatched on map); vagrant UAE, Yemen.African Skimmer Rynchops flavirostris V
L: 38. W: 106. Resembles large, dark-backed tern. Very large orange-red bill slightly decurved
with shorter upper mandible and very long, narrow, pointed wings. Adult in summer is blackish-
brown above, including hindneck, but forehead and trailing edge to arm white; underside white,
primaries darker. Sides of short, slightly forked black tail are greyish-white. In winter and in juvenile,
has a diffuse whitish collar around hindneck, making separation from Indian Skimmer difficult (see
Indian Skimmer for identification). Young birds have shorter bill, tipped dark. Flight graceful with
deliberate, slow accent on upstroke; often in flocks, following the ‘leader’ in a line low over the
water. Skims low over water with long lower mandible breaking water surface. Habitat Rivers and
other wetlands, rarely coastal. Note Vagrant Oman, Yemen.Indian Skimmer Rynchops albicollis V
L: 42. W: 108. Closely resembles African Skimmer but larger and at all ages has a clear-cut white
collar on hindneck. African Skimmer has a less clear-cut whitish collar in winter adult and juvenile;
Indian Skimmer then separated with difficulty by all-white tail feathers with narrower dark
centres; both webs are white in all ages, whilst in African Skimmer the same feathers are white on
outer webs, and greyish on inner webs; the latter become progressively paler on the outer feathers.
Habitat Rivers and other wetlands, rarely coastal. Note Vagrant Iran, Oman.