Little bittern
| Little bittern | |
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| Adult female in Spain | |
| Scientific classification | |
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I. minutus
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| Binomial name | |
| Ixobrychus minutus (Linnaeus, 1766)
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| Synonyms | |
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Common little bittern |
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The little bittern (Ixobrychus minutus) is a wading bird in the heron family, Ardeidae, native to the Old World, breeding in Africa, central and southern Europe, western and southern Asia, and Madagascar. Birds from temperate regions in Europe and western Asia are migratory, wintering in Africa and further south in Asia, while those nesting in the tropics are sedentary. It is rare north of its breeding range.[2]
Description
It is a very small bittern; measuring 25–36 cm (9.8–14.2 in) in length, 40–58 cm (16–23 in) across the wings and weighing 59–150 g (2.1–5.3 oz). It is among the smallest heron species. It has a short neck, longish bill and buff underparts. The male's back and crown are black, and the wings are black with a large white patch on each wing. The female has a browner back and a buff-brown wing patch.
Taxonomy
There are three subspecies:
- I. m. minutus – (Linnaeus, 1766): nominate, found in Europe, Asia, northern Africa; winters in Sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia
- I. m. payesii – (Hartlaub, 1858): found in Sub-Saharan Africa, resident
- I. m. podiceps – (Bonaparte, 1855): found in Madagascar, resident
The Australian little bittern (Ixobrychus dubius) and the extinct New Zealand little bittern (Ixobrychus novaezelandiae) were formerly considered subspecies of the little bittern.[3]
Status
The little bittern is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.
Behaviour
The little bittern's breeding habitat is reed beds. It nests on platforms of reeds in shrubs, and four to eight eggs are laid. It can be difficult to see, given its skulking lifestyle and reed bed habitat.
These bitterns feed on fish, insects and amphibians.
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Ixobrychus minutus NRM.jpg
An adult during ringing in northern Italy
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Ixobrychus minutus 1 (Marek Szczepanek).jpg
An immature little bittern, camouflaged in its reed bed habitat
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Ixobrychus minutus 2 (Marek Szczepanek).jpg
An immature little bittern, in the open, but still near the water
References
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External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. |
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Wikispecies has information related to: Ixobrychus minutus |
- Ageing and sexing (PDF) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta and Gerd-Michael Heinze
- Little Bittern, The Atlas of Southern African Birds
- BirdLife species factsheet for Ixobrychus minutus
- Ixobrychus minutus on Avibase
- Little bittern videos, photos, and sounds at the Internet Bird Collection
- Little bittern photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
- Interactive range map of Ixobrychus minutus at IUCN Red List maps
- Audio recordings of Little bittern on Xeno-canto.
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