Observation reveals a leucistic brown noddy with unique plumage in French Polynesia, suggesting rarity in avian color variants.
We observed a leucistic Brown Noddy Anous stolidus on the atoll of Tetiaroa in French Polynesia. This individual was mostly light grey, similar in coloration to a Blue Noddy Anous ceruleus. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a Brown Noddy with such plumage. Brown Noddies and White Terns Gygis alba were particularly aggressive towards the aberrantly colored Brown Noddy.
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Ducatez et al. (2023) studied this question.
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