Black Noddy

How to find it

Birding expeditions to Cocos Island are led by specialist guides, and some non-diving trips with certified guides include hiking, boat trips around the island and birdwatching. During a July 2020 expedition, Black Noddy sightings were limited to the nesting colonies, mainly Chatham Bay and the islets Roca Sucia and Dos Amigos. A birding cruise spends evenings in small dinghies, visiting cliffs and rocky islets to watch boobies and noddies, and days birding on shore and by boat around Chatham Bay and Wafer Bay. The Brown Noddy is the more abundant noddy there, so take time to check each bird.

How to recognise it

The Black Noddy is a small noddy with a pale cap, smaller and slightly darker than the Brown Noddy.

Look for these marks:

- a thinner, longer bill

- a white cap whose edge may look sharper

- slightly darker plumage

- dark lores, the patch between eye and bill

The Brown Noddy is larger, heavier and browner. It has a greyish-white cap, a shorter and stouter bill, and pale central panels on the underwing. These are general comparisons for the species, not details described only in Costa Rica.

On Cocos Island, where the bird sits also helps: Black Noddies nest in trees, while Brown Noddies there nest on cliffs.

Behaviour and diet

On Cocos Island the Black Noddy nests in trees rather than on rocky cliffs. Early visitors described noddies perching in trees like land birds, and one account had Black Noddies collecting rotting leaves from the beach, apparently for nest material.

Across its range the species builds its nest on a tree branch from dry leaves, lined with bird droppings that are reused in later seasons. It lays one egg per season. Both sexes constantly dip their heads during breeding display, the likely origin of the name noddy, and the birds are very tolerant of people.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica this is a bird of one place: Isla del Coco, a remote national park about 550 km off the Pacific coast. The Museo Nacional lists it there as a breeding resident, meaning it spends a season on the island to breed.

Cocos Island is the only Costa Rican location named for the bird, and it nests in the island's trees rather than on cliffs. Seabirds in Costa Rica have been studied little, and work has been mostly limited to the coasts and Isla del Coco.

When to see it

Black Noddy sightings in Costa Rican waters are reported from almost all earlier expeditions to Cocos Island, including a July 2020 trip.

Similar birds

The Brown Noddy is the other noddy on Cocos Island and is larger, heavier and browner. The Black Noddy also looks very like the Lesser Noddy, which was once treated as the same species. The Black Noddy has slightly darker plumage and dark lores, where the Lesser Noddy has pale ones.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The official Costa Rican Spanish name is Tiñosa Negra, with Charrán Negro Pequeño as the alternate name. The Brown Noddy is called Tiñosa Común.

Status and conservation

The 2025-2026 official Costa Rican list gives the Black Noddy the status R (resident), and the Museo Nacional lists it as a breeding resident on Isla del Coco.