Despite the wide distribution area and thatthe fact that the bittern lives in the river reed thickets or near the lakes, that is, where there are often people, this long-nosed marsh bird can easily go unnoticed. With two steps, even looking at the support, it is almost impossible to detect. She may be "invisible." And all thanks to its yellow-green plumage, which merges with the color of sedge and reed. And also because of the pose that the bird takes at the moment of danger: it pulls the body, neck and head into the string, which makes it look like a bunch of marsh grass. And in windy weather, the bittern sways along with the surrounding grass!
But the voice of a drunk was probably heard by many.With small sizes, this nocturnal marsh bird has a rolling bass. In the silence of the night her roar can scare anyone. It used to be that for the publication of such low sounds, it immerses its beak in water and “dudit”, as in a barrel, but now it is discovered that the feathered expands the esophagus, and the sound is amplified as if through a resonator. For this “cute voice”, remotely resembling the roar of a bull, in Ukraine the bittern is called a “water bug” (water bull), and folk superstitions attribute its connection with evil spirits to it. It is believed that the one who heard the terrible scream of this bird, waiting for misfortune.
The appearance of the bittern is quite consistent with her voice.Naturally, she does not look like a bull, but she looks as ugly and scary as the sounds that this marsh bird makes. For many nations, it is a symbol of ugliness. Previously, awkward and bony man was called a drink. Even worse, this feathered one becomes when he sees that he has been noticed: as if the owl-boar eagle owl, fluff fluffs feathers, spreads bent wings to the sides, goggles eyes, and arches forward the neck. Such a sudden transformation of the “bundle of sedge” into an absurd scarecrow for a couple of seconds puzzles the predator. This delay is enough for heron to clumsily soar. In the event of an evil bird can also hit the enemy with his faceted sharp beak.
It feeds mainly on frogs, water andground insects. Eats also mice, loves fish. This is a very unsociable swamp bird. Arrives in our region in the spring, only during this period you can see these birds in a pair. Then you can hear the roar of the male, inviting females to mate. If the male has only one female, he nurses the chicks with her, and if he starts a harem, the females take care of the offspring. The nest is bitterned on a hummock from the stems of dry sedge or reed. In laying usually 4-5 bluish eggs. Nestlings can be said to be even more ugly than their parents: bug-eyed, bony, with awkwardly large paws, making a hiss, gurgling and croaking sounds.
Adults individuals have a big bittern that is found onvast expanses of forest-steppe, podtaygi and steppes, reach body weight up to 900 g. This rather large marsh bird belonging to short-legged herons has a large head and a thick neck. Her wings are long (35 cm.) And wide, and the tail is short. Plumage camouflage, yellowish-ocher, with brown pattern. The beak and legs also serve as a heron as maskkhalat: greenish-yellow or pale green. Even in a calm state, the bittern stands in a pose in which it is difficult to notice: on one leg, ugly, stooping, stretching its neck, motionless.
Due to the development of lakes and river banks, draining marshesfor economic activity, the number of species inevitably reduced. Part of the birds die during the hunt for waterfowl, as the bittern flies awkwardly and often gets hit by bullets. Also, nipples are ravaged by marsh moons and crows. However, the main factor due to which this marsh bird almost disappeared from our places is the reduction of reed beds along the shores of lakes and rivers. These birds have a subspecies - Amur top, inhabiting meadows and marshes of the Amur region. It is the same clumsy and bony, with wide-set eyes, a bird, only of smaller size and with darker plumage.
