- Ixobrychus eurhythmus
Identification
38cm
- Short neck
- Long yellow bill
- Yellow legs
Male
- Chestnut upperparts
- Buff underparts and wing coverts
Female and Juvenile
- Chestnut
- White speckles above
- White streaks below
Flight
- Black flight feathers and tail
Similar Species
Female is similar to Cinnamon Bittern but the white spots on its back are small and fine.
Distribution
Breeds on Sakhalin and Japan, the Russian Far East and Korea and throughout much of northern and eastern China. A summer visitor to breeding range present late April-September.
Winters in southern China, Taiwan, Indochina, Thailand and Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Recorded as a vagrant in Burma but there is one extraordinary and apparently valid record in Europe. An immature female was caught at Piemonte in northern Italy in November 1912. Another, less well-documented record exists from the 19th Century in Germany.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Habitat
Reed swamps and often dry grassland, prefers drier habitats than Little Bittern but also seen by ponds and rivers.
Behaviour
Diet
Not much is known about their diet, but they appear to eat frogs and shrimps, small fish and insects.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2013. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.8., with updates to August 2013. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- BF Member observations
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved April 2014)
- Wikipedia
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Schrenck's Bittern. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 26 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Schrenck%27s_Bittern
