The black bittern (Botaurus flavicollis) is a bittern of Old World origin, breeding in tropical Asia from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka east to China, Indonesia, and Australia. It is mainly resident, but some northern birds migrate short distances. This species was formerly placed in the genus Ixobrychus.
Taxonomy
The black bittern was formally described in 1790 by the English ornithologist John Latham under the binomial name Ardea flavicollis. He used the English name "yellow-necked heron" and specified the type locality as India. The black bittern was formerly placed in the genus Ixobrychus but when a molecular phylogenetic study of the heron family Ardeidae published in 2023 found that Ixobrychus was paraphyletic, Ixobrychus was merged into the genus Botaurus that had been introduced in 1819 by the English naturalist James Francis Stephens. The genus name Botaurus is Medieval Latin for a bittern. The specific epithet flavicollis combines Latin flavidus meaning "yellowish" with Modern Latin -collis meaning "-throated".
Three subspecies are recognised:
Behaviour and ecology
Breeding
Their breeding habitat is reed beds. They nest on platforms of reeds in shrubs, or sometimes in trees. Three to five eggs are laid. The chicks are covered with white down with brown patches. They first wander from their nest when aged around 15 days.
Food and feeding
Black bitterns feed on frogs, fish up to 15cm in length, crustacea and insects. They are crepuscular and nocturnal, mainly feeding at dusk and at dawk. Under this act, an Action Statement for the recovery and future management of this species has not yet been prepared. On the 2007 advisory list of threatened vertebrate fauna in Victoria, the black bittern is listed as vulnerable.
Gallery
<gallery>
File:BlackBittern.jpg|Black bittern with frog catch at Chilika, Odisha
</gallery>
==References==<!-- Auk118:472 -->
- Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp,