yellow bittern

The Yellow Bittern adult male has light brown to buffy coloration overall, except for the blackish to blue-grey crown and crest, mostly olive-brown mantel to uppertail-coverts and scapulars, often with pinkish to maroon tinge. On the upperwings, the pale wing-coverts contrast with the blackish flight-feathers. The short tail is black. The underparts are sandy brown with indistinct darker lines down foreneck and upper breast. The underwing is grey with pale wing-coverts. During the breeding season, the male shows strong vinous tinge on sides of head and neck, and on the upperparts. On the head, crown and crest are blackish to blue-grey, and the forehead is brown. The bill is long and thin, a long dagger-like bill, yellow-horn with dark ridge and tip of upper mandible. The eyes are yellow. Legs and feet are yellowish-green but mostly yellow during the breeding season. The Yellow Bittern female resembles male but she is more uniform on the upperparts and the crown is mostly brown with indistinct streaks. Upperparts and hindneck are rufous. The underparts are dark reddish-brown with buff streaking. The breast sides are black, and there are chestnut-buff streaks on throat, down foreneck to upper breast. She lacks the vinous tinge during the breeding season. The juvenile resembles female but it has conspicuous dark streaks on crown, upperparts and upperwing-coverts. The underparts are heavily streaked dark.

The Yellow Bittern frequents freshwater swamps and marshes. It can be seen in reedbeds, shrubs and dense aquatic vegetation around rice paddles, lakes and mangrove swamps.
This species occurs mainly in lowland, but in Sumatra, it can be seen up to 1,500 metres of elevation.

typically feeds on fish, amphibians and insects, sitting motionless in marsh vegetation and waiting for prey.

The Yellow Bittern in flight gives a "kakak" call described as "kak-kak-kak". The territorial call is a series of low-pitched "oo-oo-oo" or "crrw-crrw" also given in display and defence of the territory.

The yellow bittern (Ixobrychus sinensis) is a small bittern. It is of Old World origins breeding in the northern Indian Subcontinent east to the Russian Far East Japan and Indonesia. It is mainly resident but some northern birds migrate short distances. It has been recorded as a vagrant in Alaska and there is a single sighting in Great Britain from Radipole Lake Dorset on November 23 1962 &ndash however the British Ornithologists' Union has always considered this occurrence to be of uncertain provenance and currently it is not accepted onto the official British List. This is a small species at 36 to 38 cm (14 to 15 in) in length with a short neck and longish bill. The male is uniformly dull yellow above and buff below. The head and neck are chestnut with a black crown. The female's crown neck and breast are streaked brown and the juvenile is like the female but heavily streaked brown below and mottled with buff above. Yellow bitterns feed on insects fish and amphibians. The yellow bittern's breeding habitat is reed beds. They nest on platforms of reeds in shrubs. Four to six eggs are laid. They can be difficult to see given their skulking lifestyle and reed bed habitat but tend to fly fairly frequently when the striking contrast between the black flight feathers and the otherwise yellowish plumage makes them unmistakable.