Little bittern

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Little bittern
Zwergdommel.jpg
A little bittern in Majorca, Spain
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Pelecaniformes
Family: Ardeidae
Genus: Botaurus
Species:
B. minutus
Binomial name
Botaurus minutus
(Linnaeus, 1766)
IxobrychusMinutusIUCNvr2018 2.png
Range of I. minutus
  Breeding
  Resident
  Non-breeding
Synonyms

Ardea minutaLinnaeus, 1766

The little bittern (Botaurus minutus) is a wading bird in the heron family, Ardeidae. This species was formerly placed in the genus Ixobrychus.

Contents

Taxonomy

The little bittern was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Ardea minuta. [2] Linnaeus specified the type locality as "Helvetia, Aleppo" but this is now restricted to Switzerland. [3] The little bittern was formerly placed in the genus Ixobrychus. A molecular phylogenetic study of the heron family Ardeidae published in 2023 found that Ixobrychus was paraphyletic and to create monophyletic genera, Ixobrychus was merged into the genus Botaurus that had been introduced in 1819 by the English naturalist James Francis Stephens. [4] [5] [6]

Three subspecies are recognised: [5]

The Australian black-backed bittern (Botaurus dubius) and the extinct New Zealand bittern (Botaurus novaezelandiae) were formerly considered subspecies of the little bittern. [7] [8]

Description

The little bittern has a length of 33–38 centimetres (13–15 in) and a wing span of 52–58 centimetres (20–23 in). It is the smallest of the breeding herons of Europe and is characterised by its tiny size, long and sharp bill and thick neck. The males are distinctively patterned and both sexes show pale forewing panels. The males have black with a faint green sheen on the crown, nape, back, tail and scapulars. The underparts are pale buff and the wing has a pinkish buff oval shaped panel which contrasts with the otherwise black wings and is formed by the inner wing coverts. The underwing is completely whiteish in colour. The female is duller than the male and has brownish black upperparts with paler feather margins visible at close range. The underparts of the female are not as clean as those of the male and are streaked with dark buff and brown. The female's wing panel is less obvious than the male's. The juveniles are duller and more rufous than the females and are more heavily streaked on both their upperparts and underparts, including their wing coverts. [9]

Distribution

The little bittern is native to the Old World, breeding in Africa, central and southern Europe, western and southern Asia, and Madagascar. Birds from temperate regions in Europe and western Asia are migratory, wintering in Africa and further south in Asia, while those nesting in the tropics are sedentary. It is rare north of its breeding range. [10]

In Britain there were intermittent reports of breeding in the nineteenth century, and again in 1946 and 1957, but none of these records were proven. The first proven British breeding record is from Yorkshire in 1984, [9] and the second from the Avalon Marshes in Somerset in 2010, by 2017 this species had been present in this area for nine consecutive years. [11]

Behaviour

The little bittern is crepuscular, skulking and normally solitary. It feeds on fishes, amphibians and insects which are caught within reedbeds or at their edges by the bird slowly stalking the prey. The male claims a territory in the Spring, advertising his presence with a deep barking or croaking call and the monogamous pair remain together for at least one breeding season. Eggs are laid in a nest situated in dense reedbeds, rushes or bushes above the water from the middle of May and there is a single brood which is normally 5-6 eggs. These are incubated for 17–19 days and the chicks are fledged after 25–30 days. [9]

In Europe the little bittern is a migratory species, crossing the Mediterranean from Africa in the early Spring and arriving in their breeding wetlands from mid April onwards. The return to Africa occurs in August and September and there are normally only a few juveniles left in Europe by October. The European breeders migrate as far south as the Eastern Cape and Transvaal. [9]

Conservation status

Little Bitterns were once widespread in Central Europe. In the meantime it is a poorly distributed breeding bird of the lowlands, sporadically up to low mountain ranges. It occurs from Europe (without regular breeding in Great Britain, Ireland or Scandinavia) to West Siberia up to 56° N. It also occurs in North Africa and southern Iran and south of the Sahara to southern Africa. Isolated populations also exist in Madagascar and Australia. The total population of Europe is about 60,000-120,000 breeding pairs, with occurrences of> 5000 breeding pairs in Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Turkey. In Central Europe (around 2000) about 5300-7800 pairs are breeding, most of it in Hungary. The formerly large population in Germany has decreased to just over 100 breeding pairs. However, inventory information is particularly unreliable for this very secret species. [12]

The little bittern is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds applies.

Related Research Articles

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The American bittern is a species of wading bird in the heron family. It has a Nearctic distribution, breeding in Canada and the northern and central parts of the United States, and wintering in the U.S. Gulf Coast states, all of Florida into the Everglades, the Caribbean islands and parts of Central America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurasian bittern</span> Species of bird

The Eurasian bittern or great bittern is a wading bird in the bittern subfamily (Botaurinae) of the heron family Ardeidae. There are two subspecies, the northern race breeding in parts of Europe and across the Palearctic, as well as on the northern coast of Africa, while the southern race is endemic to parts of southern Africa. It is a secretive bird, seldom seen in the open as it prefers to skulk in reed beds and thick vegetation near water bodies. Its presence is apparent in the spring, when the booming call of the male during the breeding season can be heard. It feeds on fish, small mammals, fledgling birds, amphibians, crustaceans and insects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heron</span> Family of birds

Herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera Botaurus and Ixobrychus are referred to as bitterns, and, together with the zigzag heron, or zigzag bittern, in the monotypic genus Zebrilus, form a monophyletic group within the Ardeidae. Egrets do not form a biologically distinct group from herons, and tend to be named differently because they are mainly white or have decorative plumes in breeding plumage. Herons, by evolutionary adaptation, have long beaks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great egret</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-crowned night heron</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cattle egret</span> Cosmopolitan genus of heron

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinnamon bittern</span> Species of bird

The cinnamon bittern or chestnut bittern is a small Old World bittern, breeding in tropical and subtropical Asia from India east to China and Indonesia. It is mainly resident, but some northern birds migrate short distances. This species was formerly placed in the genus Ixobrychus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow bittern</span> Species of bird

The yellow bittern is a small bittern. It is of Old World origins, breeding in the northern Indian Subcontinent, east to the Russian Far East, Japan and Indonesia. It is mainly resident, but some northern birds migrate short distances. It has been recorded as a vagrant in Alaska and there is a single sighting in Great Britain, from Radipole Lake, Dorset on November 23, 1962 – however, the British Ornithologists' Union has always considered this occurrence to be of uncertain provenance and currently it is not accepted onto the official British List. This species was formerly placed in the genus Ixobrychus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black bittern</span> Species of bird

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<i>Botaurus</i> Genus of birds

Botaurus is a genus of bitterns, a group of wading birds in the heron family Ardeidae. The genus includes species that were previously placed in the genus Ixobrychus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Least bittern</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fauna of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands</span> Native animals of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Von Schrenck's bittern</span> Species of bird

Von Schrenck's bittern or Schrenck's bittern is a small bittern named after Leopold von Schrenck, the 19th-century Russian zoologist. It breeds in southeast Siberia, east China, the Korean Peninsula and Japan. It winters from the Malay Peninsula to the Greater Sunda Islands, Sulawesi and the Philippines. This species was formerly placed in the genus Ixobrychus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australasian bittern</span> Species of bird

The Australasian bittern, also known as the brown bittern or matuku hūrepo, and also nicknamed the "bunyip bird", is a large bird in the heron family Ardeidae. A secretive bird with a distinctive booming call, it is more often heard than seen. Australasian bitterns are endangered in both Australia and New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinnated bittern</span> Species of bird

The pinnated bittern, also known as the South American bittern, is a large member of the heron family (Ardeidae) found in the New World tropics. Like the other Botaurus bitterns, its plumage is mostly buffy-brown and cryptically patterned. Though it is a widespread species, it is rarely seen – presumably due to its skulking habits – and much about its life history remains little known.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stripe-backed bittern</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-backed bittern</span> Species of bird

The black-backed bittern, also known as the black-backed least bittern or Australian little bittern, is a little-known species of heron in the family Ardeidae found in Australia and vagrant to southern New Guinea. Formerly lumped with the little bittern, it is one of the smallest herons in the world. This species was formerly placed in the genus Ixobrychus.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2019) [amended version of 2018 assessment]. "Ixobrychus minutus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2019: e.T22735766A155511258. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22735766A155511258.en . Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  2. Linnaeus, Carl (1766). Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 1 (12th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 240.
  3. Mayr, Ernst; Cottrell, G. William, eds. (1979). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 239.
  4. Hruska, J.P.; Holmes, J.; Oliveros, C.; Shakya, S.; Lavretsky, P.; McCracken, K.G.; Sheldon, F.H.; Moyle, R.G. (2023). "Ultraconserved elements resolve the phylogeny and corroborate patterns of molecular rate variation in herons (Aves: Ardeidae)". Ornithology: ukad005. doi:10.1093/ornithology/ukad005.
  5. 1 2 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2024). "Ibis, spoonbills, herons, Hamerkop, Shoebill, pelicans". IOC World Bird List Version 14.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  6. Chesser, R.T.; Billerman, S.M.; Burns, K.J.; Cicero, C.; Dunn, J.L.; Hernández-Baños, B.E.; Jiménez, R.A.; Johnson, O.; Kratter, A.W.; Mason, N.A.; Rasmussen, P.C.; Remsen, J.V.J. (2024). "Sixty-fifth Supplement to the American Ornithological Society's Check-list of North American Birds". Ornithology. 141 (3): ukae019. doi: 10.1093/ornithology/ukae019 .
  7. Christidis, Les; Boles, Walter E. (2008). Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing. ISBN   978-0-643-06511-6.
  8. Martínez-Vilalta, A.; Motis, A. (1992). "Family Ardeida (Herons)" . In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. (eds.). Handbook of the Cornel. Vol. 1: Ostrich to Ducks. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. pp. 376–429 [425-426]. ISBN   84-87334-10-5.
  9. 1 2 3 4 D. Snow & C.M. Perrins (1998). Birds of the Western Palearctic Concise Edition Volume 1 Non-passerines. Oxford University Press. pp. 105–107. ISBN   978-0198501879.
  10. Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Anderton, John C. (2005). Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. ISBN   978-84-87334-67-2.
  11. "The State of the UK's Birds 2017" (PDF). British Trust for Ornithology . Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  12. Hans-Günther., Bauer (2011). Das Kompendium der Vögel Mitteleuropas : Alles über Biologie, Gefährdung und Schutz. AULA-Verlag. ISBN   978-3-89104-758-3. OCLC   785829563.