GREAT BITTERN

The 'Great Bittern' (''Botaurus stellaris'') is a wading bird of the heron family Ardeidae.

Contents

Description

Distribution

Behaviour

In Fiction

References

General references

Description

It is a large, chunky, brown bird, very similar to the American Bittern, ''Botaurus lentiginosa''. It is 69-81 cm (24"-34") in length, with a 100-130 cm wingspan.

Distribution

It is declining in much of its temperate European and Asian range. It is resident in the milder west and south, but migrates south from areas where the water freezes in winter.

Behaviour

This bittern is usually well-hidden in ''Phragmites'' reedbeds. Usually solitary, it walks stealthily seeking amphibians and fish. If it senses that it has been seen, it becomes motionless, with its bill pointed upward, causing it to blend into the reeds. It is most active at dawn and dusk.
Its folk names include barrel-maker, bog-bull, bog hen, bog-trotter, and butterbump, mostly refer to the mating call of the male, which is a deep fog-horn or bull-like ''boom'', easily audible from a distance of 2 miles on a calm night. The Latin for bittern, ''Botaurus'', also refers to the bull. The other part of its scientific name, ''stellata'' is the Latin for ''starry'', in reference to its plumage.
The Great Bittern is one of the species to which the ''Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds'' (AEWA) applies.

In Fiction

Great Bittern is proposed as a rational explanation behind the mythical creature drekavac in short story ''Brave Mita and drekavac from the pond'' by Branko Ćopić^[1].

References

1. U svijetu medvjeda i leptirova, , Branko, Ćopić, , ,

General references

★ Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern