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Australian Wildlife

  Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus)





Australasian Bittern | Botaurus poiciloptilus photo
Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus). Leeton, NSW, Australia.

Image by David Cook Wildlife Photography - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







BIRD FACTS

Description
The Australasian Bittern is a large stocky heron with streaked brown, black and buff plumage. The underside is paler streaked with brown and creamy buff. It has brown bill. The head is brown on top with paler face and a darker streak below the eye that extends down the neck. It is an elusive bird and rarely seen. It may be confused with the juvenile Nankeen Night Heron which is smaller and more reddish brown.

Other Names
Brown Bittern

Size
65cm - 75cm

Habitat
wetlands where it is found amongst dense vegetation in reed beds

Food
frogs, fish, crustaceans, insects

Breeding
nests on the ground amongst reeds and lays greenish eggs.

Range
The Australasian Bittern is found in south east Australia from south east Queensland to south east South Australia including most of New south Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. It is also found in south west corner of Western Australia. Overseas it is found in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

distribution map showing range of Botaurus poiciloptilus in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.



Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Ciconiiformes
Family:Ardeidae
Genus:Botaurus
Species:poiciloptilus
Common Name:Australasian Bittern