Menu

Volume 54, No. 1

Search by author or title:

Observation of Black Noddies Anous minutus swallowing coral pebbles on a Polynesian atoll.


Authors

SIMON DUCATEZ* & JAYNA L. DEVORE
UMR 241 SECOPOL (IRD, IFREMER, ILM, UPF), Punaauia, Tahiti, French Polynesia *(simon.ducatez@gmail.com)

Citation

DUCATEZ, S. & DEVORE, J.L. (2026). Observation of Black Noddies Anous minutus swallowing coral pebbles on a Polynesian atoll. Marine Ornithology, 54(1), 29-31.
http://doi.org/10.5038/2074-1235.54.1.1686

Received 03 August 2025, accepted 22 September 2025

Date Published: 2026/04/15
Date Online: 2026/04/15
Keywords: gastrolith, geophagy, Laridae, seabird, stomach stone, Tetiʻaroa

Abstract

We report the observation of Black Noddies Anous minutus ingurgitating small pieces of coral debris on top of beachrock on the atoll of Tetiʻaroa, 50 km north of Tahiti in French Polynesia.

References


Albuquerque, J. B. (1982). Observations on the use of rangle by the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus tundrius) wintering in Southern Brasil. Raptor Research, 16(3), 91-92.

Beaune, D., Le Bohec, C., Lucas, F., Gauthier-Clerc, M., & Le Maho, Y. (2009). Stomach stones in king penguin chicks. Polar Biology, 32(4), 593-597. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-008-0558-1

De Villiers, M. S. D., & De Bruyn, P. J. N. (2004). Stone-swallowing by three species of penguins at sub-Antarctic Marion Island. Marine Ornithology, 32(2), 185-186. http://doi.org/10.5038/2074-1235.32.2.622

Downs, C. T., Bredin, I. P., & Wragg, P. D. (2019). More than eating dirt: A review of avian geophagy. African Zoology, 54(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/15627020.2019.1570335

Gauger, V. H. (2020). Black Noddy (Anous minutus), version 1.0. In S. M. Billerman (Ed.), Birds of the World. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.blknod.01

Kenyon, K. W., & Kridler, E. (1969). Laysan Albatrosses swallow indigestible matter. The Auk, 86(2), 339-343. https://doi.org/10.2307/4083505

Lavers, J. L., & Bond, A. L. (2023). Pumice ingestion in seabirds: Interannual variation, and relationships with chick growth and plastic ingestion. Marine Biology, 170(5), 55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-023-04203-6

Maya-García, O., Ortega-Flores, M., & Schondube, J. E. (2021). True grit: Ingestion of small stone particles by hummingbirds in West Mexico. Avian Research, 12(1), 62. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-021-00298-x

Møller, A. P., & Erritzøe, J. (2010). Why birds eat colourful grit: Colour preferences revealed by the colour of gizzard stones. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 23(3), 509-517. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2009.01918.x

Roman, L., Bryan, S., Bool, N., Gustafson, L., & Townsend, K. (2021). Desperate times call for desperate measures: Non-food ingestion by starving seabirds. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 662, 157-168. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13626

Wings, O. (2007). A review of gastrolith function with implications for fossil vertebrates and a revised classification. Acta Paleontologica Polonica, 52(1), 1-16.

Search by author or title:

Browse previous volumes: