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Alternative names: White-crested ( Tiger ) Bittern, African Bittern, Tiger Bittern
- Tigriornis leucolopha
Identification
Large ( 66 - 80 cm. ) Bittern. Forehead and crown crested, black with a white central stripe - not usually noticable unless crest raised. Nape and neck light rufous with bold black barring. Mantle, scapulars and rump rufous with bold black bars. Sides of head and neck as nape. Chin white with fine black vermiculations. Throat and breast with thinner black barring than the sides of the neck. Belly and flanks whiteish with rounded black streaking. Tertials and rest of wing bright rufous with bold black bars. Eye, and eyering yellow. Bill yellow with a dusky distal 33%. Legs yellow. juveniles dark brown with fine white barring on the head and neck. Thin white mardins to sides of neck scapulars ans tertials. Chin, throat and breast pale, washed light brown with broadish streaks on neck and breast that break into "spotty" streaks on the flanks and belly. Bare parts as adult but with c75% of the distal end of the bill black.
Distribution
Gambia, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Gabon and the Congo.
Taxonomy
Monotypic
Habitat
Small shaded streams, marshes or swamps, banks of forested rivers, and mangrove swamps. Mainly nocturnal and fairly secretive
Behaviour
The diet includes small fish, crustaceans, crayfish, freshwater crabs, spiders, insects, frogs, snakes and lizards.
