View allAll Photos Tagged bittern
I finally got back out this afternoon. This is a gorgeous American Bittern that was nearly impossible to spot in the grass. He kindly did me the favor of crossing the canal and coming quite close to me. I was super excited to get this photo!
Nisqually's Billy Frank National Wildlife Refuge. Taken close to sunset: Nikon d850 | Nikkor 500mm | f/5.5 | 1/800 sec. | ISO 1600
Click twice on the image to zoom in! :)
American Bittern
Many thanks to all those who View, Comment and or Fave My Photos... It is greatly appreciated... Roy
All images full frame unless the filename reflects "Crop"
Bittern, Botaurus stellaris
Thank you to all that take the time to look at my photographs and comment or like them. It really is appreciated. To see more, or get post-processing tips please visit www.kevinagar.uk
One from the archives. Forest Farm, Cardiff. To see a wider range of images. Please click on the link below.
Good Saturday morning everyone and hope a great one is in store for all. Here is a species that is a personal fave, and when posed like this I just cannot resist. Thank you for visiting and as always enjoy your day and weekend.
Bittern, Botaurus stellaris
Thank you to all that take the time to look at my photographs and comment or like them. It really is appreciated. To see more, or get post-processing tips please visit www.kevinagar.uk
More snow last night, enough to cover my tracks in the gdn so now up to about 6 inches - 150mm. Not gone out again & nothing coming to my feeders of any note. Unloading some unposted Bittern pictures from 2012. Had never been so close to a Bittern
Dungeness.
After a day when all the birds that we had been hoping to see had remained elusive this smart Bittern suddenly appeared in the reedbed and saved the day!!
I was happy to have spotted this wading bird, a lifer for me. I believe it to be a juvenile. When standing upright, it is difficult to see as it blends in with the reeds.
Bittern - Botaurus Stellaris
Norfolk
The bittern is a thickset heron with all-over bright, pale, buffy-brown plumage covered with dark streaks and bars. It flies on broad, rounded, bowed wings. A secretive bird, very difficult to see, as it moves silently through reeds at water's edge, looking for fish. The males make a remarkable far-carrying, booming sound in spring. It's very small, reedbed-dependent population make it an Amber List species.
It is also a Schedule 1 species.
Unlike the similar storks, ibises, and spoonbills, herons, egrets, pelicans, and bitterns fly with their necks retracted, not outstretched.
Eurasian bitterns feed on fish, small mammals, amphibians and invertebrates, hunting along the reed margins in shallow water. British records include eels up to 35 cm (14 in) and other fish, mice and voles, small birds and fledglings, frogs, newts, crabs, shrimps, molluscs, spiders and insects. In continental Europe, members of over twenty families of beetle are eaten, as well as dragonflies, bees, grasshoppers and earwigs. Some vegetable matter such as aquatic plants is also consumed.
Males are polygamous, mating with up to five females. The nest is built in the previous year's standing reeds and consists of an untidy platform some 30 cm (12 in) across. It may be on a tussock surrounded by water or on matted roots close to water and is built by the female using bits of reed, sedges and grass stalks, with a lining of finer fragments. Four to six eggs are laid in late March and April and incubated by the female for about twenty-six days. After hatching, the chicks spend about two weeks in the nest before leaving to swim amongst the reeds. The female rears them without help from the male, regurgitating food into the nest from her crop, the young seizing her bill and pulling it down. They become fully fledged at about eight weeks.
The Eurasian bittern has a very wide range and a large total population, estimated to be 110,000 to 340,000 individuals. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its overall conservation status as being of "least concern because although the population trend is downward, the rate of decline is insufficient to justify rating it in a more threatened category. The chief threat the bird faces is destruction of reed beds and drainage and disturbance of its wetland habitats. It is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. The southern race has suffered catastrophic decline during the 20th century due to wetland degradation and, unlike the northern race, is of high conservation concern.
In the United Kingdom, the main areas in which the Eurasian bittern breeds have been Lancashire and East Anglia with an estimated 44 breeding pairs in total in 2007. However, the Lancashire population at Leighton Moss RSPB reserve has declined in recent decades, while bitterns have been attracted to new reed beds in the West Country. In Ireland, it died out as a breeding species in the mid-19th century, but in 2011 a single bird was spotted in County Wexford and there have been a number of subsequent sightings. In the 21st century, bitterns are regular winter visitors to the London Wetland Centre, enabling city dwellers to view these scarce birds.
Population:
UK breeding:
80 males
UK wintering:
600 birds
Europe:
21 - 29,000 pairs
Mondat garden work again. Uploading a set of Bittern picx from Saturday. I was surprised & amazed when he popped out of the nearest clump of reeds to the hide. I dare not lift the camera up above the rim of the hide or stand up for a better view as it would have been gone. Had to crop the pics to get rid of the dark line @ bottom from the edge of the opening. Watched as he started to swim or wade across the open water then turned back when he realised he was being watched.
23.12.2016 - Pennington Flash . It was great today after about 40 years of trying to finally see a Bittern out in the open instead of hidden in the reeds at pennington -brilliant to see even if the light was poor
This one appears to be very skittish compared to the one that appeared last year at the same location. Colonel Sam Smith Park, Toronto
Best and closest look at an American Bittern I ever had. Interesting, the eyes point down in the skull. So when he hunts, the eyes are naturally looking down. To horizontal he must hold his head vertical.
Least Bittern 2 Everglades National Park Florida, USA.
No post-processing done to photo. Nikon NEF (RAW) files available. NPP Straight Photography at noPhotoShopping.com
The bittern is a thickset heron with all-over bright, pale, buffy-brown plumage covered with dark streaks and bars. It flies on broad, rounded, bowed wings. A secretive bird, very difficult to see, as it moves silently through reeds at water's edge, looking for fish. The males make a remarkable far-carrying, booming sound in spring. Its very small, reedbed-dependent population make it an Amber List species.
Source: www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a...