American Bittern

American Bittern, the Thunder-Pumper

American Bittern

The American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) is a member of the Ardeidae family, a group of waders that have pointed bills and seize their prey with a lightning-fast strike and they fly with their necks coiled back.  This family consists of bitterns, herons and egrets.  

We see the American Bittern less frequently than we do the Great Blue Heron, for example, because bitterns are secretive birds who prefer freshwater marshes with tall emergent vegetation.  They are most active at dawn and dusk.  Other than one individual crossing a road, all bitterns I have seen were in these fresh water marshes thick with high vegetation.  They usually hold tight when seen rather than flush like herons and egrets.  Usually they face you showing their striped breast and point their bill straight up.  They can still see you around their facial structures.  If the wind is blowing the vegetation, they often wave back and forth with the moving tall grasses and sedges.  One time I watched a bittern waving slowly as it faced me.  It matched the grasses blowing in the wind precisely, back and forth with the same rhythm.  I wondered how it could do it so well!

American Bittern

The American Bittern has a large body,  a long tapering neck and short greenish or yellowish legs.   It has brown upperparts flecked with black, brown head with a darker brown cap, white eyeline, chin and throat, and a long black malar streak (line from edge of bill running down neck).  The eyes are yellow and the bill is mostly yellow.  The underparts are white or buff with bold rufous streaks.  This bird is built for camouflage.  Here the only other species one might mistake for the bittern is the immature night-heron.  They are smaller, lack the malar stripe and are usually found in more open habitats near salt water.  The voice of the American Bittern is distinctive, a loud oonk-a-lunk sound like someone using a plunger on a toilet.  Often the presence of a bittern is discerned by the sound rather than actually seeing the bird.  

American Bittern [Internet Photo]

American Bitterns are non-colonial like herons and egrets.  They nest in dense vegetation over water where the female builds the nest of reeds, sedges, cattails, and other vegetation.  Two to seven pale brown or olive eggs are incubated by the female for 24 to 28 days.  Bitterns feed on insects, amphibians, crayfish, small fish and small mammals.  To catch their prey they wait motionlessly waiting for the prey to come close.  They then dart forward and strike rapidly.  

American Bittern with Frog

The summer range of this species covers most of southern Canada.  They winter on British Columbia and California's coastline southward to the most southern parts of the US and into Mexico, Costa Rica and Greater Antilles.  

American Bittern [Internet Photo]

The American Bittern has an interesting courtship display which is rarely seen.  The male shortens his neck, arches his back, dips his breast forward and 'booms' at the female.  I have never seen this performance.  The pair also perform aerial displays.  Another interesting fact about this species is the nicknames it has earned due to its notable vocalizations.  As seen in the title above, they are sometimes called 'thunder-pumpers' and also 'stake-drivers' or 'mire-drummers'.  A very interesting species indeed!