We got recordings of the calls, also. We were mainly chasing Oriental
Reed Warblers, and I was putting a lot of effort into recording those.
Cheers, Chris.
On 07/10/2014 06:38 AM, Kev Lobotomi wrote:
Hi Nathan & everyone
In January between the 4th & 7th of 1982, a group of us, including Chris Corben, David Eades, Anita
Smyth, & I discovered several Little (now Australian Little or Black-backed) Bitterns at Kunanurra,
Lily Creek Lagoon. There were quite a few birds in the reeds there, & they were very active,
calling & flying in & out of reeds. I would have liked nothing better than for them to be
Yellow (& we did look!), however at least some of them (which is written in my notes) had black
backs, so were male Aust Little. The black mantle would preclude Yellow Bittern. We did see birds with
brown mantles too, most likely female Aust Little Bitterns, but I guess from what I've written you
can't rule out Yellow. There is no doubt that we had male Aust Little Bitterns though.-Kevin Bartram
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 17:26:03 +1000
From:
To:
Subject: [Birding-Aus] RFI - Little Bittern Records from Northern Australia & a
previous live Yellow Bittern Record
Hey everyone!
The recent sighting of a Yellow Bittern in Brisbane, and particularly its
previous misidentification as an Australian Little Bittern made me think
that this mistake has probably been made before. GIS analysis shows that
the majority of Northern Australia is actually far closer to the regular
range of Yellow Bittern than it is to Little Bittern.
As such I was wondering if any readers have information, and particularly
photographs of Little Bitterns from Northern Australia, and if they could,
would it be possible to forward me the photos? Especially if anyone has
information of the Lake Argyle population of Little Bitterns. There are no
specimens from the area, nor photographs that I have been able to find so
any help there would be appreciated.
Already I have found a previous record of Yellow Bittern on the mainland,
and in-fact it was the first record that I chased up. The 2011 September
Little Bittern from Broome, photos available on the Broome Bird
Observatory's Flyway News from that month -
http://www.broomebirdobservatory.com/flyways/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/img_29571.jpg
- and photographed by Adrian Boyle - http://www.pbase.com/image/140381999.
The identification has been confirmed by Jeff Davies and key features can
be seen in both photographs. The photograph of it perched vaguely shows a
longer bill than is expected in Little Bittern, but more tellingly the bird
lacks the specific dark stripe down the centre of the throat that a Little
Bittern should have. In flight the bird shows pure black greater primary
covert feathers, whereas in Little Bittern they should have brownish
edging.
Thank you for any information you can provide!
~Nathan Ruser
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--
Chris Corben.
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