Mystery Bird: American Bittern, Botaurus lentiginosus

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[Mystery bird] American Bittern, Botaurus lentiginosus, photographed in Brazoria Wildlife Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]

Image: Joseph Kennedy, 10 March 2009 [larger view].

Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400

Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.

Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:

How much of a bird do you need to see to identify it? Depends: on the species, the time of year, the circumstances. But you'll find that as you look at more and more birds, you need on average less and less to identify them.

Let's figure out what we're seeing in this mysterious mystery photo. The bird appears to be perching in grass at the edge of what looks like water -- an important clue itself -- and facing to our right. We can see a cryptically mottled wing and a richly marked chestnut and black back, all rather owl-like. At the bend of the wing there seems to be a diffuse whitish patch on the side of the breast.

The breast and neck, or what we can see of them at least, are heavily and strikingly striped brown. The only North American owl I can think of that fits that pattern is Barred Owl. But that bird is cold gray above, with heavy white spotting on the scapulars, and not, in my experience, much given to patrolling the grassy edges of marshes from a perch on the ground.

So what big brown bird is? My guess is that many of us will either have recognized this image right away or still be scratching our heads. If the picture made you think immediately of a bittern, you got it right; if it didn't, you're probably still wondering.

Which bittern? Only American Bittern combines the relatively uniform coloration of the upperparts with such bold striping of the neck. The darkish flight feathers useful in identifying the species in the air are concealed here by the owl-like wing coverts, but I wonder whether that white patch at the bend of the wing isn't the bird's nuptial plumes, displayed in a dramatic show each spring on the prairie marshes this declining species loves so much.

American Bittern, Botaurus lentiginosus, photographed in Brazoria Wildlife Refuge, Texas.

Image: Joseph Kennedy, 10 March 2009 [larger view].

Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400

Review all mystery birds to date.

More like this

I think there's something wrong with the HTML code. The picture I see on the main blog site is huge, and is a different one from what I'm seeing on the post itself.

Whoops, the huge picture is there on this page as well.

Okay, the photo of the bittern's lower body is huge and is extending into your right sidebar, and is out of alignment with the rest of the page.

Going just by the picture showing on the blog's main page, I'd decided to say American Bittern. And the picture showing on this page when I clicked through confirms that. It was the "bold streaks" (Sibley) that tipped me off in the picture on the blog's main page, and the black whisker mark in the photo on this page added confirmation.

Well, I had fun working out the ID just from the lower-left corner of the photo that showed on my screen -- I didn't realize there was more to the picture! I guess I thought that Wacky Wednesday had come a day early. So I'll pat myself on the back for ID'ing the American Bittern just by looking at its back and noting the marshy habitat. Lovely bird, stunning photo. Fun!

well, everything is fixed now. sorry about this, but this is what happens when you are writing code while on generous quantities of vicodin.

(at least this hospital believes in giving pain meds -- unlike another NYC hospital i could name)

Yes! I actually decided on bittern before reading the comments, so I didn't even know there was a different picture! Just something about the way the neck comes into the body.

Bob O'H, ewe berry, berry bat!