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BLACK BITTERN FACTS |
Description
Blackish, with a prominent yellow stripe down each side of the neck, and yellow streaks on the throat and chest. Females are slightly paler than males, sometimes tinged rufous. Juveniles brownish and paler than adults.
Shy and secretive, apparently active mostly at dawn, dusk or night. Stalks or waits in inconspicuous places for fish and other aquatic animals. If discovered, may assume a cryptic posture with its bill pointed upwards. Solitary, except in the breeding season when pairs may be seen together. In the Top End, birds are probably resident; elsewhere they may be seasonal visitors or local wanderers. Roosts in trees or on banks near the water. Constructs a flattish nest of twigs and similar material, about 30 cm across, in a leafy tree or dense vegetation above or near the water. Eggs are white; clutch size not precisely known.
Author credit: Lindley McKay
Habitat
Prefers densely-vegetated edges of fresh and coastal waterways.
Food
Carnivore
Range
Northern and eastern Australia.
Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Species Description is from Museums Field Guide, Atlas of Living Australia at website at https://lists.ala.org.au Licensed under Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Classification
| Class: | Aves | | Order: | Ciconiiformes | | Family: | Ardeidae | | Genus: | Ixobrychus | | Species: | flavicollis | | Common Name: | Black Bittern |
Relatives in same Genus
Little Bittern (I. minutus)
Yellow Bittern (I. sinensis)
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