Black Bittern  Ixobrychus flavicollis

Etymology:

  • Ixobrychus : Greek word ixias reed-like plant; brukhomai – bellow. { found bellow reeds}
  • Flavicollis: Latin word flavus- golden-yellow; collis-necked { Golden necked}

Vernacular Names : Hindi: Kala bagla, Ben: Kalo bak, Ass: Ay jan, Khaira bog, Guj: Kali pan bagli, Ta: Karuppu madayan, Mal: Karutha kokku, Sinh: Kalu kokka, Mar: Kala Tapas

Distribution in India: Wide spread resident, but found only in its habitat area in all parts of India.

Description: Size of 55-58 Cm. The adult is uniformly black above, with yellow neck sides. It is whitish below, heavily streaked with brown .

Habitat:Found in reed beds and Submerged bushes mixed with clumps of reeds or sedges.

Food Habits: They eat mainly insects, amphibians and small fish. They are mainly Nocturnal and crepuscular. Hence difficult to see as they rest inside the reeds and bush during daytime.

Breeding Habits: They nest on platforms of reeds in shrubs, or sometimes in trees. Three to five eggs are laid. Both male and female incubate the eggs and the chicks are born Altricial (with closed eyes and less down feathers). Both parents do the duty of feeding the chicks. The chicks fledge within 3 weeks and leave the nest post fledging within 21 days.

They can be difficult to see, given their skulking lifestyle and reed bed habitat, but tend to fly fairly frequently at dawn and dusk ,when the all black upperparts makes them unmistakable