Yellow bittern

The yellow bittern (Ixobrychus sinensis) 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 Britain, from Radipole Lake, Dorset on November 23, 1962 – however, the BOU have always considered this occurrence to be of uncertain provenance and currently it is not accepted onto the official British List.

Yellow bittern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Pelecaniformes
Family: Ardeidae
Genus: Ixobrychus
Species:
I. sinensis
Binomial name
Ixobrychus sinensis
(Gmelin, 1789)

This is a small species at 36 to 38 cm (14 to 15 in) in length, with a short neck and longish bill. The male is uniformly dull yellow above and buff below. The head and neck are chestnut, with a black crown. The female's crown, neck and breast are streaked brown, and the juvenile is like the female but heavily streaked brown below, and mottled with buff above. Yellow bitterns feed on insects, fish and amphibians.

Breeding habitat
Egg, Collection Museum Wiesbaden

The yellow bittern's breeding habitat is reed beds. They nest on platforms of reeds in shrubs. Four to six eggs are laid. They can be difficult to see, given their skulking lifestyle and reed bed habitat, but tend to fly fairly frequently, when the striking contrast between the black flight feathers and the otherwise yellowish plumage makes them unmistakable.

Protected status

The yellow bittern (Ixobrychus sinensis) is protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.[2]

  • Walking in Niigata, Japan
  • Catching a fish in Niigata, Japan
  • Immature on a Typha species in Kolkata, West Bengal, India
  • Male taking off in Kolkata, West Bengal, India
  • Seeking immature for feeding, Chiba, Japan
  • Feeds small fish to immature, Chiba, Japan
  • Yellow bittern in Hong Kong
  • In the open, from Ernakuam, Kerala, India

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Ixobrychus sinensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading
  • Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ISBN 0-691-04910-6
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