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Black Bitterns are the second-largest bitterns in Australia. Their highly cryptic plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are slightly different. Male Black Bitterns have a black crown, cheeks and nape of the neck. Along the sides of the neck there is a long, prominent yellowish streak on either side. The front of the neck is dark-brown to black, with heavy white streaking. Wings, belly, vent, undertail and tail are all near-black. Females have paler upperparts that are dark grey-brown, rather than almost black, and the front is more yellow-brown, rather than black-and-white. The irises of both sexes are yellow. The straight bill is dark-grey; the legs and feet are yellowish-grey. Juveniles resemble females, with wide buff edge lining of the feathers giving them a scalloped appearance.

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 Black Bittern is available HERE .

Black Bitterns are found over a wide range, through tropical Asia, from south-eastern Pakistan, India and Ceylon to eastern China, Korea and Japan, plus Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, some of the smaller South Pacific islands and Australia.

In Australia, Black Bitterns occur only in a few areas, most importantly the tropical North, from the Kimberley, through the Top End of the NT, along the South coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, throughout Cape York peninsula, along (near-)coastal eastern QLD, down into the northern NSW coastal areas. They are also present on some off-shore islands in that range. There are only occasional sightings farther to the South, near the NSW/VIC border. Very rarely, they are also found inland, in the upper Murray-Darling Basin, on the western side of the Great Dividing Range, in inland NSW. There is also a population of Black Bitterns in a narrow coastal fringe at the SW tip of WA, from Perth to about Albany, WA.

Black Bitterns have a preference for mangroves and vegetation along streams and creeks.

Race "australis"