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5

Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus) Alternate name(s): "Brown Bittern", "Australian Bittern", "Black-backed Bittern", "Boomer", "Bull-bird", "matuku hurepo" (NZ) Aboriginal name(s): "kawoR" [tjapwurrung]; "boordenitj" (WA); "boonboon" Size: 66-76 cm; wing span 1.0-1.2 m Weight: 0.6-2.0 kg

Australia: Family Group 5 Family Group 5 Table Great Egret Intermediate Egret Cattle Egret Little Egret Eastern Reef Egret Great-billed Heron White-faced Heron White-necked Heron Pied Heron Rufous Night Heron Striated Heron Black Bittern Australian Little Bittern Australasian Bittern Royal Spoonbill Yellow-billed Spoonbill Australian White Ibis Straw-necked Ibis Glossy Ibis Black-necked Stork Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Australasian Bitterns are the largest bitterns found in Australia. Their plumage is highly cryptic. The front is creamy, with heavy streaking from the chest down. The back is darker than the front, brownish, with copious darker grey-brown streaking, in particular on the upperwing coverts. The crown is also dark grey-brown. The ear coverts are rufous-brown, while the rest of the long, strong neck is darker brown, partly streaked. The facial skin in front of the eyes is bluish-grey. The strong, straight horn-grey bill is pointed, with a slightly darker upper mandible than the lower one. The irises are yellow; legs and feet are grey to greyish-green.

Taxonomy, classification See Australasian Bittern at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Australasian Bittern is available HERE . Australasian Bitterns populate parts of southern Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, New Caledonia and Ouvea. In Australia, Australasian Bitterns are found mostly in the South-east, but also in the far South-west of the continent, plus Tasmania, the smaller islands along Bass Straight and on Kangaroo Island. In the South-east of the continent their range extends from the far south-eastern corner of SA, via all of VIC into NSW, i.e. the Murray-Darling Basin inland and a near-coastal strip, up to far south-eastern QLD. Within that range, they are only rarely found in the Great Dividing Range. In the South-west of the continent they populate a narrow coastal strip from Perth, WA, to Cape Arid on the South coast of WA. Australasian Bitterns live around well-vegetated wetlands, such as swamps, estuaries and along streams. They can also be found in irrigated crops, in particular rice fields.

Sightings Click here for sighting information M. Herring reports the presence of several Australasian Bitterns in irrigated rice paddies around Coleambally, NSW, over several years, including the 2016/17 breeding season. All sighting and photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by M. Herring (Bitterns in Rice Project).

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

Lateral view of an Australasian Bittern in an irrigated rice field (photo courtesy of M. Herring, Bitterns in Rice Project)
[25 km South-west of Coleambally, NSW, January 2017]

Breeding information

Breeding season: Sep - Jan

Eggs: 4 - 5

Incubation period: ca. 30? days

Fledging age: ca. 63? days

Male Australasian Bitterns tend to have several females, with their nests, in their territory.

Nest building: Female?

Incubation: Female

Dependent care: Female?

Nest

"bungobittah", "lar", "malunna", "jindi" [bundjalung] = nest [Aboriginal]

Type: Basket

Material: Sticks, reed stalks

Height above ground: N/A

Australasian Bittern nest in an irrigated rice field with four eggs in it (photo courtesy of M. Herring, Bitterns in Rice Project)
[20 km South of Coleambally, NSW, January 2017]

Eggs

"boyanga", "booyanga", "derinya", "dirandil", "koomura", "mirk", "ngampu", "nooluk", "pateena", "pum-pum" = Egg; "dirundirri" = eggs [Aboriginal]; "gawu" = eggs [gamilaraay]

Size: 52 x 38 mm

Colour: Pale olive-green to olive-brown

Shape: Tapered oval

See photo above.

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Sedentary

Elementary unit: Solitary/male with females

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

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Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Sun, 24 February 2019, 21:20 +00:00