| Yellow Bittern | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Pelecaniformes |
| Family: | Ardeidae |
| Genus: | Ixobrychus |
| Species: | Ixobrychus sinensis |
The Yellow Bittern (Ixobrychus sinensis) is a small Asian bittern.
Description[]
The male Yellow Bittern is a dull yellow wading bird with lighter underparts than above along with a chestnut neck and head with a black crown. Females are streaked brown on the crown, neck and the breast. This bittern is small at 36 to 38 cm long and has a longish bill.
Voice[]
One is the soft, repeated and lowering oo-oo-oo or crrw crrw the bird uses in courtship, when defending territory, calling another individual, or being with an overgrown young, both day and night. It is similar to the coos made by Geopelia pigeons. In flight, a dry staccato kakak, kakak or kik-kik-kik can be heard, as well as a guttural, grunting ohr; the second variant of this call is characterized by considerable softness, the Yellow Bittern vocalizes like this when bringing food to the nest.
Behavior[]
Feeding[]
The Yellow Bittern feeds mainly on water insects (and their larvae). It also eats small fish, frogs, mollusks, orthopteran insects and lizards. It feeds mainly at night and at dawn and dusk.
Breeding and Nesting[]
In Egypt, Japan and China, the breeding season of the Yellow Bittern is from May to August; in India from June to September; in southwestern Oman, the chicks were observed from May to November; on the Malay Peninsula, laying mainly from July to October, although nests with eggs and cubs have been found all year round except in the January-May period; February-May in the Philippines; May on the island of Sumbawa; September and January in Seychelles; September-April in the Solomon Islands; February in Saipan.
The Yellow Bittern usually nests alone, although up to six nests per tree have been reported; the birds that occupy them do not seem to enter into being pairs with each other. In China, the average density is 11.4 pairs per hectare, but in irrigated rice fields, it is up to 31.18 pairs per hectare. Typically, the nest is located no more than 3 m above water or mud. The diameter of the nest is 14.5–25 cm, height is 6–11 cm. 4–6 eggs, laid at one-day intervals, are green-white or blue-green have average dimensions of 30–33 mm by 23–24.5 mm. Incubation lasts 17–20 days and is done by both birds of the pair. As brooding begins with the first egg laid, the young hatch asynchronously. They are characterized by pink down, yellow eyes and green-yellow naked skin. After 15 days from hatching, they start looking out of the nest, leaving it 20 days after hatching.
Distribution and Habitat[]
This small bittern is common in Asia. It breeds in East and Southeast Asia from North India east to Japan and Indonesia. Wintering birds can be found in New Guinea and some other islands of Oceania. It lives in thickets of reeds and reeds on the banks of fresh water. Yellow Bitterns are sedentary in the tropical parts of their range.