diff --git a/pandas/core/generic.py b/pandas/core/generic.py
index bea650c1b50fd..b78293622c0a2 100644
--- a/pandas/core/generic.py
+++ b/pandas/core/generic.py
@@ -10402,7 +10402,7 @@ def _agg_by_level(self, name, axis=0, level=0, skipna=True, **kwargs):
             return getattr(grouped, name)(**kwargs)
         axis = self._get_axis_number(axis)
         method = getattr(type(self), name)
-        applyf = lambda x: method(x, axis=axis, skipna=skipna, **kwargs)
+        applyf = lambda x: method(x, skipna=skipna, **kwargs)
         return grouped.aggregate(applyf)
 
     def _logical_func(