Black Bittern - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by Neil Fifer
Near Sydney, Australia

Ixobrychus flavicollis

Dupetor flavicollis

Identification

Female
Photo © by Romy Ocon
Candaba wetlands, Pampanga province, Philippines, December 2006

54–66 cm (21¼-26 in)
Adult

• Black above
• Yellow neck sides
• Whitish undersides are heavily streaked with brown
• Longish neck
• Long yellow bill
  

Female: is not so dark as the male, and is yellower on the underparts
Juvenile dark brown rather than black, otherwise similar to the adult

Distribution

Tropical Asia toAustralia.
Breeds from south-east Pakistan, throughout India to Sri Lanka and in western Burma, southern China and Hainan, the Philippines, southern Thailand and Indochina, southern Malaya, Sumatra, Java and Timor.

Also occurs in southern New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and Solomon Islands and in coastal western, northern and eastern Australia.

Chinese birds are migratory and winter in Malaysia and Indonesia but elsewhere this species appears to undergo dispersal governed by rains.

Taxonomy

Some authorities place this species in the genus Dupetor.

Subspecies

Juvenile
Photo © by Weiss1
Daintree River, Queensland, Australia, February 2010

Ixobrychus flavicollis has three subspecies^[1]:

• I. f. flavicollis:

• India and South-eastern Asia to Indonesia and Philippines

• I. f. australis:

• Moluccas, New Guinea and Bismarck Archipelago to west, north and eastern Australia

• I. f. woodfordi:

• Solomon Islands

Habitat

Densely vegetated margins of lakes and ponds, forest swamps and riverbanks, rice fields and mangroves.

Behaviour

Often nocturnal.

Breeding

Photo © by SeeToh
Tuas South, Singapore, November 2015

The stick nest is made on a branch overhanging water; it is lined with reeds. Both adults incubate the 3 to 5 eggs and rear the young.

Diet

The diet includes frogs, reptiles, fish and invertebrates, snails, dragonflies, shrimps and crayfish.

Vocalisation

A booming call.

Gallery

Click images to see larger version

• 

  Male : Ssp. flavicollis
  © by Alok Tewari
  Keoladeo National Park, India, Jan-2013

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. BF Member observations
3. NSW Gov.au
4. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved November 2015)
5. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Black Bittern. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 8 November 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black_Bittern

External Links

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