Feature: Brown Noddy

This is an account of the first documented sighting of the Brown Noddy at Lovers Key State Park, Fort Myers Beach, Florida USA. I made this observation of the species on 19 September 2008.

The Brown Noddy above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park in September 2008.

My visit to the park on this day was not unusual as I walked to New Pass at the southern end of the venue where numerous bird species can be seen with regularity. I happened to time my visit during an unusually low tide where the "flats" were well exposed. Visiting the sand bar required a walk across a channel that had a very strong current. This can be a little unnerving as the water's flow on one visit to the same location nearly swept me off my feet. Certainly not something you want to have happen while carrying photo gear.

When on the sandbar, you can experience its size shrink to the size of a bus or have it completely disappear as the tide rises. This is not something I recommend you do. The sandbar is a refuge for shore and wading birds at times. Regrettably, I have observed a disturbance of them by passing boats and the disembarking of families from watercraft on the sometimes small island that is created by the tides. Shellers, whom frequent the park, will sometimes have a disregard of the birds as well.

The Brown Noddy above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park in September 2008.

My Sibley field guide indicates the Brown Noddy to be extremely rare in the vast range of the state of Florida. The solitary individual of its species, which I had the incredible luck in seeing, was in the company of about 1000 birds including an American Kestrel (a flyover that caused massive panic as virtually every bird on the ground reacted as I'd liken to a wave in the crowd at a sporting event), Black Skimmers, Brown Pelicans, Double-crested Cormorants, Laughing Gulls, Lesser Yellowlegs, an Osprey (overhead), a Reddish Egret, Royal Terns, Sandwich Terns, and Willets.

I was able to observe the noddy for 21 minutes before it took flight with all the birds due to a passing boat. Many of the birds settled back down after a few minutes, but not the noddy. It moved to another location where I have yet to see it again.

The Brown Noddy above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park in September 2008.

Lovers Key State Park is north of the normal range for the Brown Noddy while the bird species is known to breed in the Dry Tortugas National Park to the south southwest.

The Brown Noddy was once observed at Cape May, New Jersey after accompanying Hurricane David up the Atlantic seaboard in 1979.

The Brown Noddy above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park in September 2008.

According to LKSP Park Services Specialist, Brie Ochoa, after researching the vertebrate database for the entire southwest district, the Brown Noddy was last seen at Del-Nor Wiggins Pass State Park in Naples, Florida 15 years prior to this sighting. Lovers Key State Park, on the Gulf of Mexico, is a stop on the Great Florida Birding Trail and the Great Calusa Blueway.