The Australasian bittern (''Botaurus poiciloptilus''), also known as the brown bittern or matuku hūrepo, and also nicknamed the "

bunyip The bunyip is a creature from the aboriginal mythology of southeastern Australia, said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes. Name The origin of the word ''bunyip'' has been traced to the Wemba-Wemba or Wergaia ...

bird", is a large bird in the heron family

Ardeidae The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychu ...

. A secretive bird with a distinctive booming call, it is more often heard than seen. Australasian bitterns are endangered in both Australia and New Zealand.

Taxonomy

German zoologist

Johann Georg Wagler Johann Georg Wagler (28 March 1800 – 23 August 1832) was a German herpetologist and ornithologist. Wagler was assistant to Johann Baptist von Spix, and gave lectures in zoology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich after it was moved ...

described the Australasian bittern in 1827. It is one of four similarly-plumaged species in the genus ''

Botaurus ''Botaurus'' is a genus of bitterns, a group of wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae. The genus name ''Botaurus'' was given by the English naturalist James Francis Stephens, and is derived from Medieval Latin ''butaurus'', "bittern", itself ...

''.

Description

The length is from 650 to 750 mm with adults being similar between the sexes while the male is significantly larger. The bird has a deep brown upper surface, mauled with buff on wing coverts; face and eyebrow buff, with dark brown stripe running from bill to erectile plumes at sides of neck. Under surface buff, striped with brown. The face skin is a dull green as are the legs and feet, it possesses a dark brown bill, yellow eyes, and the base of the lower mandible is green-yellow.

Behaviour

It feeds on aquatic animals such as

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

s and freshwater

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...

s. It is a solitary nester on the ground in dense wetland vegetation on trampled reeds and other plants. Monitoring of this species mainly relies upon the ability to count males based on the conspicuous breeding calls of males. Detailed analyses showed that the best time to detect Australasian Bitterns was 1 hour before sunrise, in September (austral spring), on a moonlit night with no cloud or rain.

Distribution and habitat

It is found in south-western and south-eastern Australia,

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, New Caledonia and Ouvea. Populations in Australia and New Zealand have declined in the 20th century. It is a cryptic and partly nocturnal species that inhabits densely vegetated

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

Status and conservation

The principal cause of past and present decline is thought to be wetland drainage and degradation. In Australia it is thought to be particularly sensitive to the destruction of drought refugia. It is listed as endangered on the

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cult ...

. It is listed as threatened on the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act of 1988. Under this act, an ''Action Statement'' for the recovery and future management of this species has not been prepared. On the 2007 advisory list of threatened vertebrate fauna in Victoria, this species is listed as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...

Important bird areas

BirdLife International has identified the following sites, all of which are in Australia, as being important for Australasian bittern conservation: ;New South Wales * Fivebough and Tuckerbil Swamps * Griffith Wetlands *

Gwydir Wetlands The Gwydir Wetlands comprise a system of irregularly inundated wetlands associated with the Gwydir River in the North West Slopes region of north-eastern New South Wales, Australia. When flooded they form an important site for breeding waterb ...

* Hastings-Macleay * Hunter Estuary *

Macquarie Marshes The Macquarie Marshes comprise the wetlands associated with the floodplains of the Macquarie River and its tributaries, in northern New South Wales, Australia. The Macquarie River and the marshes eventually drain into the Darling River. The m ...

Narran Wetlands The Narran Wetlands, also known as the Narran Lakes, contained within the Narran Lake Nature Reserve, comprise a series of protected ephemeral lakes and swamps fed by the Narran River in the north-west of New South Wales, Australia. The reser ...

;Tasmania * Egg Islands ;Victoria * Barmah-Millewa * Bellarine Wetlands * Carrum Wetlands (

Edithvale-Seaford Wetlands The Edithvale-Seaford Wetlands is a collection of principally freshwater swamps and marshlands totalling in southeastern Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, about southeast of Melbourne CBD. It is the largest natural wetland of its type in t ...

and

Eastern Treatment Plant The Eastern Treatment Plant is an sewage treatment plant, located in the suburb of Bangholme in Victoria, Australia, southeast of Melbourne's central business district. The plant was built in 1975 and is owned by Melbourne Water. Following tr ...

) * Discovery Bay to Piccaninnie Ponds * Lower Brodribb River *

North Victorian Wetlands The North Victorian Wetlands, also known as the Kerang Wetlands, comprise an extensive series of over 100 freshwater, brackish and saline lakes and swamps on the floodplain of the Loddon River where it enters the Murray valley, in the vicini ...

* Yambuk * Tootgarook Swamp ;South Australia * Coorong *

Gulf St Vincent Gulf St Vincent, sometimes referred to as St Vincent Gulf, St Vincent's Gulf or Gulf of St Vincent, is the eastern of two large inlets of water on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, the other being the larger S ...

* Lake Hawdon System * Lakes Alexandrina and Albert ;Western Australia * Benger Swamp * Lake Pleasant View System * Muir-Unicup Wetlands * Owingup Swamp and Boat Harbour Wetlands * Two Peoples Bay and Mount Manypeaks Botaurus poiciloptilus (AM LB8847) (cropped)

Botaurus poiciloptilus (AM LB8847) (cropped)

Gallery

File:Bitterngould.jpg, Painting by John Gould File:Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus) in the grass.jpg, In the grass, Leeton, New South Wales, Australia File:WRMbittern.jpg, Mounted bittern in the collection of the Whanganui Regional Museum

References

External links

* Radio New Zealand ''Our Changing World'' programm
"Booming Bitterns", 3 February 2016
* Australasian bitterns discussed on Radio NZ ''Critter of the Week''
4 Dec 2015
{{Taxonbar, from=Q783076 Australasian bittern Birds of Oceania Endangered fauna of Australia Australasian bittern