Australasian Bittern
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Photo] Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus) H??repo or Matuku, Australasian Bittern, Botaurus poiciloptilus, also known as the Brown Bittern. URL: http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/matuku.html Date 1888. Author J.G.Keulemans in Buller, Walter Lawry, Birds of New Zealand, 1888.

The Australasian Bittern, Botaurus poiciloptilus, also known as the Brown Bittern, is found in south-western and south-eastern Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, New Caledonia and Ouvea. Populations in Australia and New Zealand have declined in the 20th Century.

It is a large bittern, patterned and streaked brown, buff and black, with a pale throat. It is a cryptic and partly nocturnal species that inhabits densely vegetated wetlands. It feeds on aquatic animals such as frogs, eels and freshwater crustaceans. It is a solitary nester on the ground in dense wetland vegetation on trampled reeds and other plants. It has a distinctive booming voice and may be heard more often than seen.

The principal cause of past and ongoing decline is thought to be wetland drainage and degradation. In Australia it is thought to be particularly sensitive to the destruction of drought refugia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australasian_Bittern

The text in this page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article shown in above URL. It is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.