Schrenck's Bittern
Encyclopedia
Von Schrenck's Bittern (Ixobrychus eurhythmus), also known as Schrenck's Bittern, is a small bittern
. It breeds in China
and Siberia
from March to July, and Japan
from May to August. It winters in Indonesia
, Philippines
, Singapore
, Laos
, passing through the rest of South-east Asia. It is an exceptionally rare vagrant as far west as Europe
, with a single record from Italy as far back as 1912. It is named after Leopold von Schrenck
, the nineteenth-century Russia
n naturalist.
This is a small species at 38 cm in length, with a short neck, longish yellow bill
and yellow legs. The male is uniformly chestnut above, and buff below and on the wing coverts. The female and juvenile are chestnut all over with white speckles above, and white streaks below. When in flight, it shows black flight feathers and tail.
Their breeding habitat is reedbeds. They can be difficult to see, given their skulking lifestyle and reedbed habitat, but tend to emerge at dusk, when they can be seen creeping almost cat-like in search of preys.
Widespread throughout its large range, Von Schrenck's Bittern is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List
of Threatened Species.
Bittern
Bitterns are a classification of birds in the heron family, Ardeidae, a family of wading birds. Species named bitterns tend to be the shorter-necked, often more secretive members of this family...
. It breeds in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
from March to July, and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
from May to August. It winters in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, passing through the rest of South-east Asia. It is an exceptionally rare vagrant as far west as Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, with a single record from Italy as far back as 1912. It is named after Leopold von Schrenck
Leopold von Schrenck
Leopold Ivanovich von Schrenck was a Russian zoologist, geographer and ethnographer.-Biography:Schrenck was a Baltic German born and brought up near Chotenj, south-west of St Petersburg. He received his doctorate from the University of Tartu, and then studied natural science in Berlin and Königsberg...
, the nineteenth-century Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n naturalist.
This is a small species at 38 cm in length, with a short neck, longish yellow bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
and yellow legs. The male is uniformly chestnut above, and buff below and on the wing coverts. The female and juvenile are chestnut all over with white speckles above, and white streaks below. When in flight, it shows black flight feathers and tail.
Their breeding habitat is reedbeds. They can be difficult to see, given their skulking lifestyle and reedbed habitat, but tend to emerge at dusk, when they can be seen creeping almost cat-like in search of preys.
Widespread throughout its large range, Von Schrenck's Bittern is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List
IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
of Threatened Species.