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Little Bitterns are very small herons with a rufous front (face and breast). Male Little Bitterns have a black back (cap, nape of neck, wings); females have a brown back. The inner wings of both sexes are rufous, the belly and vent are white. The irises of both sexes are yellow. The bill is yellowish with a grey top, the legs and feet are greenish-yellow to greyish-yellow. Juveniles have highly cryptic plumage with prominent striation. The front is creamy to fawn, with heavy rufous streaking, while the back, from the cap down, is dark-grey, with rufous to brown edge lining, most prominently on the wing feathers.

Little Bitterns, race "dubius", have now been given species status as the Australian Little Bittern ("Botaurus dubius").

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 Little Bittern is available HERE .

There are 3 accepted races of Little Bitterns, whose combined range extends from parts of Africa and Madagascar to parts of Europe and eastward via Asia Minor and Arabia into south-western and central Asia, as far as Iran and Afghanistan in the South and Kazakhstan and north-western China in the North. Of the 3 races one, nominate race "minutus", is migratory (except for a permanent population in the Nile Delta). They winter in sub-Saharan Africa and southern parts of their Asian range, migrating into mid-latitude Europe and western to central Asia for the breeding season. The other two races are sedentary. Race "payesii" is resident in sub-Saharan Africa, while race "podiceps" is found only on Madagascar.

In Europe, Little Bitterns are found as breeding migrants from the South. Their breeding range extends from Iberia and parts of England, via parts of central Europe into most of eastern Europe. They are also present in (near-)coastal regions throughout the Mediterranean, around the Black Sea and basically anywhere in eastern Europe, including European Russia from a line connecting the Danube River with the Caucasus, up to about 55 degrees latitude (the Baltic states).

Little Bitterns are usually found in freshwater habitats, mostly in reeds around freshwater lakes, but also reedbeds and other dense vegetation along creeks and in swamps. Sometimes they are also found in wetlands with brackish and saline water.

Race "minutus"