John
Audubon paints the Noddy Tern in the Dry
Tortugas

May 11,
1832 - Noddy Tern (Brown Noddy) painted on an islet
Audubon named Noddy Key in the Dry Tortugas.
Noddy Key
is thought to be present day Bush Key
Noddy
Tern (Brown Noddy)
Above
image from Historical Museum of Southern
Florida
- Audubon images at the
Historical
Museum website were
produced from prints of an original Elephant Folio
belonging to the museum.
http://www.historical-museum.org/collect/audubon/audubon.htm)
See Audubon
House
Audubon
painted the Noddy tern while visiting the Tortugas. The
background painting by Havell seen in this scene is
uncharacteristic of the landscape of the Tortugas or the
Keys.
Portions
of Audubon's description from the Ornithological
Biography, Volume III, pages 516-518 appear
below:
"At
the beginning of May, the Noddies collect from all
parts of the Gulf of Mexico, and the coasts of
Florida, for the purpose of returning to their
breeding places, on one of the Tortugas called Noddy
Key. . . . On visiting their island on the 11th of May
1832, I was surprised to see that many of them were
repairing and augmenting nests of twigs and dry grass,
which they place on bushes or low trees, but never on
the ground. . . . "
"The
noddies form regular nests of twigs and dry grass,
which they place on the bushes or low trees, but never
on the ground. On visiting their island [Noddy
Key] on the 11th of May 1832, I was surprised to
see that many of them were repairing and augmenting
nests that had remained through the winter, while
others employed in constructing new ones, and some
were already sitting on their eggs. In a great many
instances their repaired nests formed masses nearly 2
feet in height, and yet all of them had only a slight
hollow for the eggs . . . "
"The
Noddy, like most other species of terns, lays three
eggs, which average two inches in length, by an inch
and three-eighths in breadth, and are reddish-yellow
colour, spotted and patched with dull red and faint
purple. They afford excellent eating, and our sailors
seldom failed to collect bucketfuls of them daily
during our stay at the Tortugas."
".
. . It does not see well at night, and it is perhaps
for this reason that it frequently alights on the
spars of vessels, where it sleeps so sound that the
seamen often catch them. When seized in the hand it
offers a rough cry . . . On such occasions, it does
not disgorge its food . . . although it bites
severely, with quickly repeated movements of the bill,
. . . Some of which I've kept several days, refused
all kinds of food, became dull and languid, and at
length died . . . The tail of the Noddy is cueate,
instead of being forked, in which respect it differs
essentially from that of the other species. Perhaps
the naturalists who placed it in the same genus as the
Roseate tern, may have been nodding over their
books.
Additional
information about the brown noddy may be found by
following the link below to the Florida Breeding Bird
Atlas. The Atlas, a collaborative effort of Audubon of
Florida, the Florida Ornithological Society, and the
Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission
provides information of general status, habitat, and
status of breeding species in Florida
http://wildflorida.org/bba/BRNO.htm
Additional
information about the brown noddy may be found by
following ththis link to eNature.com
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