Least Bittern
Encyclopedia
The Least Bittern is a small wading bird
, the smallest heron
found in the Americas
.
This bird's underparts and throat are white with light brown streaks. Their face and the sides of the neck are light brown; they have yellow eyes and a yellow bill. The adult male is glossy greenish black on the back and crown; the adult female is glossy brown on these parts. They show light brown parts on the wings in flight.
These birds nest in large marsh
es with dense vegetation from southern Canada
to northern Argentina
. The nest is a well-concealed platform built from cattails and other marsh vegetation. The female lays 4 or 5 egg
s. Both parents feed the young by regurgitating food. A second brood is often produced in a season.
These birds migrate
from the northern parts of their range in winter for the southernmost coasts of the United States
and areas further south, travelling at night.
They mainly eat fish
and insect
s, which they capture with quick jabs of their bill while climbing through marsh plants.
The numbers of these birds have declined in some areas due to loss of habitat. They are still fairly common, but more often heard than seen. They prefer to escape on foot and hide than to take flight. These birds make cooing and clucking sounds, usually in early morning or near dusk.
.
Least Bittern forms a superspecies
with Little Bittern
and Yellow Bittern
.
There are five widely recognised subspecies
.
Birds from Ecuador
are sometimes assigned to a sixth subspecies, limoncochae: North American birds were formerly divided into two subspecies, eastern exilis and western hesperis, but this is no longer believed to be a valid distinction.
as a separate species in 1885, from a specimen collected on or near the Caloosahatchee River
, near Lake Okeechobee
, in southwest Florida
; Cory stated that the specimen was "without doubt perfectly distinct from any other known species". Further specimens followed over the next decades, from Florida, Michigan
, Illinois
, Wisconsin
, Ohio
and Ontario
.
Initially, Cory's Least Bittern was accepted as a valid species, with Elliott Coues
and Richard Bowdler Sharpe
both including it in published species lists. However, as early as 1892, doubts were raised about the validity of Cory's Least Bittern as a separate species. Nonetheless, in 1896, Frank Chapman
wrote a detailed paper supporting its retention as a valid species. Outram Bangs
later argued, in 1915, that this view was wrong, and proposed that Cory's should become a junior synonym of Least Bittern. This view eventually prevailed, with the American Ornithologists' Union
removing the species from their list of North American birds in 1923, although others held dissenting views until at least 1928.
Cory's Least Bittern was once fairly common, but it is now exceptionally rare, with only five sightings since 1950. More than 50 per cent of the historical records are from the Toronto region of Ontario
. Initially known only from the North American subspecies exilis, it was first recorded in the South America subspecies erthyromelas in 1967.
.http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/intrnltr/mbta/mbtandx.html
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
, the smallest heron
Heron
The herons are long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae. There are 64 recognised species in this family. Some are called "egrets" or "bitterns" instead of "heron"....
found in the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
.
This bird's underparts and throat are white with light brown streaks. Their face and the sides of the neck are light brown; they have yellow eyes and a yellow bill. The adult male is glossy greenish black on the back and crown; the adult female is glossy brown on these parts. They show light brown parts on the wings in flight.
These birds nest in large marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
es with dense vegetation from southern Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
to northern Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. The nest is a well-concealed platform built from cattails and other marsh vegetation. The female lays 4 or 5 egg
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
s. Both parents feed the young by regurgitating food. A second brood is often produced in a season.
These birds migrate
Bird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
from the northern parts of their range in winter for the southernmost coasts of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and areas further south, travelling at night.
They mainly eat fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
and insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s, which they capture with quick jabs of their bill while climbing through marsh plants.
The numbers of these birds have declined in some areas due to loss of habitat. They are still fairly common, but more often heard than seen. They prefer to escape on foot and hide than to take flight. These birds make cooing and clucking sounds, usually in early morning or near dusk.
Taxonomy and nomenclature
Least Bittern was originally described in 1789 by J. F. Gmelin based on specimens from JamaicaJamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
.
Least Bittern forms a superspecies
Superspecies
A superspecies is a group of at least two more or less distinctive species with approximately parapatric distributions. Not all species complexes, whether cryptices or ring species are superspecies, and vice versa, but many are...
with Little Bittern
Little Bittern
The Little Bittern is a wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, native to the Old World, breeding in Africa, central and southern Europe, western and southern Asia, and Madagascar. Birds from temperate regions in Europe and western Asia are migratory, wintering in Africa and further south in...
and Yellow Bittern
Yellow Bittern
The Yellow Bittern is a small bittern. It is of Old World origins, breeding in much of the Indian Subcontinent, east to Japan and Indonesia. It is mainly resident, but some northern birds migrate short distances...
.
There are five widely recognised subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
.
- exilis: in north and central America and the CaribbeanCaribbeanThe Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
- pullus: in northwest MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
- erythromelas: in eastern PanamaPanamaPanama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
and around eastern coasts of South AmericaSouth AmericaSouth America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
south to ParaguayParaguayParaguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the... - bogotensis: in ColombiaColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
- peruvianus: in PeruPeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
Birds from Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
are sometimes assigned to a sixth subspecies, limoncochae: North American birds were formerly divided into two subspecies, eastern exilis and western hesperis, but this is no longer believed to be a valid distinction.
Cory's Least Bittern
A dark rufous morph, "neoxenus", termed "Cory's Bittern" or "Cory's Least Bittern" was originally described by CoryCharles B. Cory
Charles Barney Cory was an American ornithologist and golfer.-Biography:Cory was born in Boston. His father had made a fortune from a large import business, ensuring that his son never had to work. At the age of sixteen Cory developed an interest in ornithology and began a skin collection...
as a separate species in 1885, from a specimen collected on or near the Caloosahatchee River
Caloosahatchee River
The Caloosahatchee River is a river on the southwest Gulf Coast of Florida in the United States, approximately long. It drains rural areas on the northern edge of the Everglades northwest of Miami...
, near Lake Okeechobee
Lake Okeechobee
Lake Okeechobee , locally referred to as The Lake or The Big O, is the largest freshwater lake in the state of Florida. It is the seventh largest freshwater lake in the United States and the second largest freshwater lake contained entirely within the lower 48 states...
, in southwest Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
; Cory stated that the specimen was "without doubt perfectly distinct from any other known species". Further specimens followed over the next decades, from Florida, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
and Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
.
Initially, Cory's Least Bittern was accepted as a valid species, with Elliott Coues
Elliott Coues
Elliott Coues was an American army surgeon, historian, ornithologist and author.Coues was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He graduated at Columbian University, Washington, D.C., in 1861, and at the Medical school of that institution in 1863...
and Richard Bowdler Sharpe
Richard Bowdler Sharpe
Richard Bowdler Sharpe was an English zoologist.-Biography:Sharpe was born in London and studied at Brighton College, The King's School, Peterborough and Loughborough Grammar School. At the age of sixteen he went to work for Smith & Sons in London...
both including it in published species lists. However, as early as 1892, doubts were raised about the validity of Cory's Least Bittern as a separate species. Nonetheless, in 1896, Frank Chapman
Frank Chapman
Frank Michler Chapman was a U.S. ornithologist and pioneering writer of field guides.Chapman was born in West Englewood, New Jersey and attended Englewood Academy. He joined the staff of the American Museum of Natural History in 1888 as assistant to Joel Asaph Allen...
wrote a detailed paper supporting its retention as a valid species. Outram Bangs
Outram Bangs
Outram Bangs was an American zoologist.Bangs was born in Watertown, Massachusetts and studied at Harvard from 1880 to 1884...
later argued, in 1915, that this view was wrong, and proposed that Cory's should become a junior synonym of Least Bittern. This view eventually prevailed, with the American Ornithologists' Union
American Ornithologists' Union
The American Ornithologists' Union is an ornithological organization in the USA. Unlike the National Audubon Society, its members are primarily professional ornithologists rather than amateur birders...
removing the species from their list of North American birds in 1923, although others held dissenting views until at least 1928.
Cory's Least Bittern was once fairly common, but it is now exceptionally rare, with only five sightings since 1950. More than 50 per cent of the historical records are from the Toronto region of Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. Initially known only from the North American subspecies exilis, it was first recorded in the South America subspecies erthyromelas in 1967.
Protected status
The Least Bittern is protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 , codified at , is a United States federal law, at first enacted in 1916 in order to implement the convention for the protection of migratory birds between the United States and Great Britain...
.http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/intrnltr/mbta/mbtandx.html
External links
- Least Bittern Images - http://tsuru-bird.net/image.htm - Copyright 2009 - Monte M. Taylor
- Field Guide on Flickr
Cory's Least Bittern
- Cory's Least Bittern and Cory's Least Bittern at Pantanal, Youtube videos
- Cory's Least Bittern in Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, photographs of museum specimens