black bittern

Male has blackish upperparts, with yellowish malar and sides of neck and dark streaking on underparts. Femaile similar but browner upperparts and chestnut-streaked underpart.Juvenile similar but with distinct fringes to upperparts.

Habits are those of a typical bittern. Chiefly nocturnal and crepuscular; skulks in dense swamps during the day Most often seen flying at dawn and dusk and in cloudy weather. Reedbeds and submerged bushes mixed with clumps of reeds or sedges.

Black bitterns feed on insects, fish, and amphibians.

Territorial call is a loud booming

The black bittern (Ixobrychus 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. It is a fairly large species at 58 cm (23 in) in length being by some margin the largest bittern in the genus Ixobrychus. Compared to related species it has a longish neck and long yellow bill. The adult is uniformly black above with yellow neck sides. It is whitish below heavily streaked with brown. The juvenile is like the adult but dark brown rather than black. They can be difficult to see given their skulking lifestyle and reed bed habitat but tend to fly fairly frequently when the all black upperparts makes them unmistakable.