View source for Little bittern

{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Zwergdommel.jpg
| image_caption = A little bittern in Majorca, Spain
| taxon = Botaurus minutus
| authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1766)
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref>{{cite iucn | author = BirdLife International | title = ''Ixobrychus minutus'' |amends=2018 | year = 2019 | doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22735766A155511258.en | article-number = e.T22735766A155511258 | access-date = 20 February 2022}}</ref>
| synonyms = ''Ardea minuta'' {{small|Linnaeus,&nbsp;1766}}
| range_map = IxobrychusMinutusIUCNvr2018 2.png
| range_map_caption = Range of ''B. minutus''{{leftlegend|#00FF00|Breeding|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#008000|Resident|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#007FFF|Non-breeding|outline=gray}} 
}}
The '''little bittern''' ('''''Botaurus minutus''''') is a wading [[bird]] in the [[heron]] family, [[Ardeidae]].  This species was formerly placed in the [[genus]] ''Ixobrychus''.

==Taxonomy==
The little bittern was [[Species description|formally described]] by the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] in 1766 in the [[12th edition of Systema Naturae|twelfth edition]] of his ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' under the [[binomial nomenclature|binomial name]] ''Ardea minuta''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1766 | title=Systema naturae: per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=12th | volume=1, Part 1 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii  | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | page=240 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42946436 }}</ref> Linnaeus specified the [[type locality (biology)|type locality]] as "Helvetia, Aleppo" but this is now restricted to Switzerland.<ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1979 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=1 | edition=2nd | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=239 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16108879 }}</ref> The little bittern was formerly placed in the genus ''Ixobrychus''. A [[molecular phylogenetic]] study of the heron family Ardeidae published in 2023 found that ''Ixobrychus'' was [[paraphyletic]] and to create [[monophyletic]] genera, ''Ixobrychus'' was merged into the genus ''[[Botaurus]]'' that had been introduced in 1819 by the English naturalist [[James Francis Stephens]].<ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Hruska | first1=J.P. | last2=Holmes | first2=J. | last3=Oliveros | first3=C. | last4=Shakya | first4=S. | last5=Lavretsky | first5=P. | last6=McCracken | first6=K.G. | last7=Sheldon | first7=F.H. | last8=Moyle | first8=R.G. | date=2023 | title=Ultraconserved elements resolve the phylogeny and corroborate patterns of molecular rate variation in herons (Aves: Ardeidae) | journal=Ornithology | volume=140 | issue=2 | article-number=ukad005 | doi=10.1093/ornithology/ukad005}}</ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Ibis, spoonbills, herons, Hamerkop, Shoebill, pelicans | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/pelicans/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=20 August 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Chesser | first1=R.T. | last2=Billerman | first2=S.M. | last3=Burns | first3=K.J. | last4=Cicero | first4=C. | last5=Dunn | first5=J.L. | last6=Hernández-Baños | first6=B.E. | last7=Jiménez | first7=R.A. | last8=Johnson | first8=O. | last9=Kratter | first9=A.W. | last10=Mason | first10=N.A. | last11=Rasmussen | first11=P.C. | last12=Remsen | first12=J.V.J. | date=2024 | title=Sixty-fifth Supplement to the American Ornithological Society's Check-list of North American Birds | journal=Ornithology | volume=141 | issue=3 | article-number=ukae019 | doi=10.1093/ornithology/ukae019 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

Three [[subspecies]] are recognised:<ref name=ioc/>
* ''B. m. minutus'' ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1766) – breeds in central, south Europe to central Asia and northwest India; winters in Africa
* ''B. m. payesii'' ([[Gustav Hartlaub|Hartlaub]], 1858) – Africa south of the Sahara
* ''B. m. podiceps'' ([[Charles Lucien Bonaparte|Bonaparte]], 1855) – [[Madagascar]]

The Australian [[black-backed bittern]] (''Botaurus dubius'') and the extinct [[New Zealand bittern]] (''Botaurus novaezelandiae'') were formerly considered subspecies of the little bittern.<ref name=Christidis2008/><ref name=hbw>{{ cite book | last1=Martínez-Vilalta | first1=A. | last2=Motis | first2=A. | year=1992 | chapter=Family Ardeida (Herons) | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | title=Handbook of the Cornel | volume=1: Ostrich to Ducks | location=Barcelona, Spain | publisher=Lynx Edicions | isbn=84-87334-10-5 | pages=376–429 [425–426] | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0001unse/page/376/mode/1up | chapter-url-access=registration }}</ref>

==Description==
The little bittern has a length of {{convert|33-38|cm|in}} and a wing span of {{convert|52-58|cm|in}}. It is the smallest of the breeding herons of Europe and is characterised by its tiny size, long and sharp bill and thick neck. The males are distinctively patterned and both sexes show pale forewing panels. The males have black with a faint green sheen on the crown, nape, back, tail and scapulars. The underparts are pale buff and the wing has a pinkish buff oval shaped panel which contrasts with the otherwise black wings and is formed by the inner wing coverts. The underwing is completely whiteish in colour. The female is duller than the male and has brownish black upperparts with paler feather margins visible at close range. The underparts of the female are not as clean as those of the male and are streaked with dark buff and brown. The female's wing panel is less obvious than the male's. The juveniles are duller and more rufous than the females and are more heavily streaked on both their upperparts and underparts, including their wing coverts.<ref name = BWP>{{cite book | author1 = D. Snow | author2 = C.M. Perrins | name-list-style = amp | year = 1998 | title = Birds of the Western Palearctic Concise Edition Volume 1 Non-passerines | publisher = Oxford University Press | isbn = 978-0-19-850187-9 | pages = 105–107}}</ref>

==Distribution==
The little bittern is native to the [[Old World]], breeding in [[Africa]], central and southern [[Europe]], western and southern [[Palearctic|Asia]], and [[Madagascar]]. Birds from temperate regions in Europe and western Asia are [[bird migration|migratory]], wintering in Africa and further south in Asia, while those nesting in the tropics are sedentary. It is rare north of its breeding range.<ref name=Rasmussen2005/>

In [[United Kingdom|Britain]]  there were intermittent reports of breeding in the nineteenth century,  and again in 1946 and 1957, but none of these records were proven. The first proven British breeding record is from [[Yorkshire]] in 1984,<ref name = BWP/> and the second from the [[Avalon Marshes]] in [[Somerset]]  in  2010, by 2017 this species had been present in this area for nine consecutive years.<ref name = BTO>{{cite web | url = https://www.bto.org/sites/default/files/publications/state-of-uk-birds-_2017.pdf | title = The State of the UK's Birds 2017 | access-date = 25 December 2018 | publisher = [[British Trust for Ornithology]]}}</ref>

==Behaviour==
The little bittern is [[crepuscular]], skulking and normally solitary. It feeds on fishes, amphibians and insects which are caught within reedbeds or at their edges by the bird slowly stalking the prey. The male claims a [[Territoriality|territory]] in the Spring, advertising his presence with a deep  barking or croaking call and the [[monogamy in animals|monogamous]] pair remain together for at least one breeding season. Eggs are laid in a nest situated in dense reedbeds, rushes or bushes above the water from the middle of May and there is a single brood which is normally 5-6 eggs. These are incubated for 17–19 days and the chicks are fledged after 25–30 days.<ref name = BWP/>

In Europe the little bittern is a migratory species, crossing the Mediterranean from Africa in the early Spring and arriving in their breeding wetlands from mid April onwards. The return to Africa occurs in August and September and there are normally only a few juveniles left in Europe by October. The European breeders migrate as far south as the [[Eastern Cape]] and [[Transvaal Province|Transvaal]].<ref name = BWP/>

The little bittern is a host of the [[Acanthocephala]]n intestinal parasite ''[[Ardeirhynchus spiralis]]''.<ref name = Dimitrova1994>Dimitrova, Z. M., & Georgiev, B. B. (1994). Ardeirhynchus ng (Palaeacanthocephala: Polymorphida: Polymorphidae), with a redescription of A. spiralis (Rudolphi, 1809) n. comb. Systematic Parasitology, 29(2), 149-158.</ref>

==Conservation status==
Little Bitterns were once widespread in Central Europe. In the meantime it is a poorly distributed breeding bird of the lowlands, sporadically up to low mountain ranges. It occurs from Europe (without regular breeding in Great Britain, Ireland or Scandinavia) to West Siberia up to 56° N. It also occurs in North Africa and southern Iran and south of the Sahara to southern Africa. Isolated populations also exist in Madagascar and Australia. The total population of Europe is about 60,000-120,000 breeding pairs, with occurrences of> 5000 breeding pairs in Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Turkey. In Central Europe (around 2000) about 5300-7800 pairs are breeding, most of it in Hungary. The formerly large population in Germany has decreased to just over 100 breeding pairs. However, inventory information is particularly unreliable for this very secret species.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hans-Günther.|first=Bauer|title=Das Kompendium der Vögel Mitteleuropas: Alles über Biologie, Gefährdung und Schutz|date=2011|publisher=AULA-Verlag|isbn=978-3-89104-758-3|oclc=785829563}}</ref>

The little bittern is one of the species to which the [[Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds]] applies.

<gallery>
Ixobrychus minutus MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.49.1.jpg|Eggs at the [[MHNT|Museum of Toulouse]]
File:Little_bittern_(Ixobrychus_minutus).JPG |With a frog in the Aldomirovtsi Marsh, Bulgaria
File:Ixobrychus minutus NRM.jpg|An adult during [[Bird ringing|ringing]] in northern Italy
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=Christidis2008>{{cite book |last1=Christidis |first1=Les |last2=Boles |first2=Walter E. |year=2008 |title=Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds |publisher=[[CSIRO Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-643-06511-6}}</ref>

<ref name=Rasmussen2005>{{cite book |last1=Rasmussen |first1=Pamela C. |author-link1=Pamela C. Rasmussen |last2=Anderton |first2=John C. |author-link2=John C. Anderton |year=2005 |title=Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide |isbn=978-84-87334-67-2|title-link=Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide |publisher=Smithsonian Institution }}</ref>
}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
{{Wikispecies|Ixobrychus minutus}}
*{{ cite web | last1=Blasco-Zumeta | first1=Javier | last2=Heinze | first2=Gerd-Michael | work=Identification Atlas of Aragon's Birds | title=Little bittern | url=http://blascozumeta.com/wp-content/uploads/aragon-birds/non-passeriformes/036.littlebittern-iminutus.pdf }}
* [http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/078.pdf Little Bittern], ''[[Southern African Bird Atlas Project|The Atlas of Southern African Birds]]''
* {{BirdLife|22735766|Ixobrychus minutus}}
* {{Avibase|name=Ixobrychus minutus}}
* {{InternetBirdCollection|little-bittern-ixobrychus-minutus}}
* {{VIREO|Little+bittern}}
* {{IUCN_Map|22735766/166447041|Ixobrychus minutus}}
* {{Xeno-canto species|Ixobrychus|minutus|Little bittern}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q26129}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Bitterns|little bittern]]
[[Category:Botaurus|little bittern]]
[[Category:Birds of Europe]]
[[Category:Birds of Africa]]
[[Category:Birds of Central Asia]]
[[Category:Birds of West Asia]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1766|little bittern]]
[[Category:Animal taxa named by Carl Linnaeus|little bittern]]