BLACK NODDY CARD DETAILS
Set: Oceania Expansion
Habitat: Wetlands
Food Cost: 3 Fish
Points: 9
Nest: Platform
Nest Capacity: 1
Power: Flocking: When Activated: Reset the Birdfeeder and gain all fish if there are any. Instead, you may discard any of these fish to tuck that many cards from the deck behind this bird.
Optimal Use of Black Noddy In Wingspan
Black Noddy pushes the envelope of what “big point birds” are capable of. Generally speaking, birds worth eight to nine victory points with a brown power usually share resources with all players, or their powers are usually pretty weak. This bird bucks that trend.
Resetting the bird feeder and then choosing from the results of all five dice leads to much more consistency and success than past powers that only roll dice outside of the bird feeder. Black Noddy’s success results in the versatility of either keeping the gained fish for future use or converting them into victory points.
Bird Counter (a bonus card) makes this an eleven-point play! Your chances of seeing at least one fish are about 60% every time you activate, a little better than a coin flip. Pairing Black Noddy with a Grey Catbird or Northern Mockingbird helps its consistency.
All things said, Black Noddy has a great overall package of qualities and is one of the best point bombs in the game.
Fun Facts about the Black Noddy Bird
This somewhat plain-looking bird makes up for its drab looks by wearing a white cap and bright orange shoes (feet).
During the Black Noddy’s courtship ritual, they give each other gifts of fish.
The Black Noddy has two distinct sub-species, one preferring the northwestern side of Hawaii and the other living on the southeastern side. It’s also known as the White-Capped Noddy or the Hawaiian Noddy.
The Black Noddy has a Wingspan of 2-feet.
