American Bittern

Botaurus lentiginosus

The American bittern is a species of wading bird in the heron family. It has a Nearctic distribution, breeding in Canada and the northern and central parts of the United States, and wintering in the U.S. Gulf Coast states, all of Florida into the Everglades, the Caribbean islands and parts of Central America. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 3,596 times across 27 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 14°C (typically 10 to 18°C, from 20 areas).

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in North America ranged from 32°N in December to 55°N in March, about 2,500 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.