American Bittern
|
|
| American Bittern | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||
| Botaurus lentiginosus (Rackett, 1813) |
The American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus *) is a wading bird of the heron family Ardeidae.
It is a large, chunky, brown bird, very similar to the Eurasian Great Bittern, Botaurus stellaris. It is 59-70 cm in length, with a 95-115 cm wingspan.
Although common in much of its range, the American bittern is usually well-hidden in bogs, marshes and wet meadows. Usually solitary, it walks stealthily among cattails or bullrushes. If it senses that it has been seen, the American Bittern becomes motionless, with its bill pointed upward, causing it to blend into the reeds. It is most active at dusk. More often heard than seen, this bittern has a call that resembles a congested pump.
Like other members of the heron family, the American Bittern feeds in marshes and shallow ponds, dining on amphibians, fish, insects and reptiles.
This bittern winters in the southern United States and Central America. It summers throughout Canada and much of the United States. As a long-distance migrant, it has a occurred as a very rare vagrant in Europe, including Great Britain and Ireland.
This bird's numbers have declined in the southern parts of its range due to habitat loss.
Folk names include barrel-maker, bog-bull, bog hen, bog-trotter, butterbump, flying fox, Indian hen, Indian pullet, look-up, marsh hen, mire drum, poke, pond guinea, scoggin, shitepoke, sky-gazer, stake-bird, stake-driver, sun, gazer, thunder pumper, and water-belcher.
* Botaurus: Latin for bittern; lentiginosus: Latin for freckled, in reference to its plumage.