Bird - Bittern RS series art postcard by R Green c.1910s

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  Bittern
• Publisher:  'RS' series postcard by 'RG' (R Green)
• Postally used:  no - message but not sent
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/.a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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The Eurasian bittern or great bittern (Botaurus stellaris) is a wading bird of the heron family Ardeidae. It is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

This species was first described as Ardea stellaris by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758. The genus name Botaurus was given by English naturalist James Francis Stephens and is the Latin for bittern, and also bull, because the bittern's call resembles the bellowing of a bull. The specific epithet, stellata, is the Latin for starry, in reference to its speckled plumage. Its folk names include ""barrel-maker"", ""bog-bull"", ""bog hen"", ""bog-trotter"" and ""mire drum"", mainly with reference to its voice or habitat. The Norfolk name ""butterbump"" refers to its high fat content when eaten as food.

Bitterns are thickset herons with bright, pale, buffy-brown plumage covered with dark streaks and bars, similar in appearance to the American bittern, Botaurus lentiginosa. As its alternate name suggests, this species is the largest of the bitterns.^[2] The Eurasian or great bittern is 69–81 cm (27–32 in) in length, with a 100–130 cm (39–51 in) wingspan and a body mass of 0.87–1.94 kg (1.9–4.3 lb).^[3]

Distribution in Europe as a whole is estimated at 20-44,000 males.^[4] It usually inhabits Phragmites reed beds. The population is declining in much of its temperate European and Asian range. It is resident in the milder west and south, but migrates south from areas where the water freezes in winter. In the UK, the main areas are Lancashire and East Anglia with an estimated 44 breeding pairs. In Ireland it died out as a breeding species in the mid-19th century, but in 2011 a single bird was spotted in County Wexford and there have been a number of subsequent sightings.^[5]

Besides the Eurasian race, Botaurus s. stellaris, another race, Botaurus s. capensis exists in southern Africa,^[6] which occurs sparingly in marshes of the east coast, the Okavango Delta and the upland foothills of the Drakensberg. The southern race suffered catastrophic decline during the 20th century due to wetland degradation, and unlike the northern race it is of highest conservation concern.^[7]

Usually solitary, the great bittern forages in reed beds, walking stealthily or remaining still above a body of water where prey may occur. If it senses that it has been seen, it points its bill directly upwards and becomes motionless so that its cryptic plumage causes it to blend into the surrounding reeds: an action known as bitterning. It is most active at dawn and dusk.

Males are polygamous with each mating with up to five females. The nest is built in the previous year's standing reeds and consists of a platform some 30 cm across. Four or five eggs are laid in late March and April and incubated by the female bird. After hatching, the chicks spend about two weeks in the nest and then disperse amongst the

Bitterns feed on fish, eels, amphibians and invertebrates, hunting along the reed margins in shallow water.

The mating call or contact call of the male is a deep, sighing fog-horn or bull-like boom with a quick rise and an only slightly longer fall, easily audible from a distance of three miles on a calm night. ""Butter bump"" and ""bitter bum"" were onomatopoeic colloquial names for the bird in some localities. Others, each unique to a particular part of Great Britain, include ""bog blutter"", ""bog-bull"", ""bog bumper"", ""bog drum"", ""boom bird"", ""bottle-bump"", ""bull of the bog"", ""bull of the mire"", ""bumpy cors"", ""butter bump"" and ""heather blutter"". The number of names is one indication of how widespread they used to be.^[8] The call is mainly given between January and April during the mating season. Surveys of Eurasian bitterns are carried out by noting the number of distinct male booms in a given area. Prior to modern science, it was unknown how such a small bird produced a call so low-pitched: common explanations included that the bird made its call into a straw or that it blew directly into the water. It is now known that the sound is produced by expelling air from the oesophagus with the aid of powerful muscles surrounding it.^[9]

type=printed

animal subject=bittern

period=pre-1914

postage condition=unposted

number of items=single

size=standard (140x89 mm)