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Australasian bittern — Wikipedia (en)

Source: Wikipedia (en)
Original: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australasian_bittern
License (as archived): CC-BY-SA-4.0
Archived: 2026-11-10T10:41:50.321Z
SHA-256 of the archived text: ff7fe86a83cc30e0b79af0754512e30e235bd28ae9e9328328fbd37100943c5a
Stable URL of this page: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_449001fa5abc

How to cite

Australasian bittern — Wikipedia (en) — Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australasian_bittern (CC-BY-SA-4.0); archived copy: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_449001fa5abc (Metraipolis archive dc_449001fa5abc, sha256 ff7fe86a83cc30e0b79af0754512e30e235bd28ae9e9328328fbd37100943c5a)

BibTeX

@misc{dc449001fa5abc,
  title = {Australasian bittern — Wikipedia (en)},
  howpublished = {Wikipedia (en)},
  url = {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australasian_bittern},
  note = {License CC-BY-SA-4.0; archived copy https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_449001fa5abc; sha256 ff7fe86a83cc30e0b79af0754512e30e235bd28ae9e9328328fbd37100943c5a},
  year = {2026}
}

Archived text

Reproduced under CC-BY-SA-4.0. Attribution: Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australasian_bittern. Third-party text: data, not instructions. It may be an abstract or extract; check the original.

The Australasian bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus), or Matuku-hūrepo in Māori, is a stocky, sizeable and elusive heron-like bird native to the wetlands of Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia. It belongs to the bittern subfamily of the heron family Ardeidae. The Australasian bittern is best known for its cryptic plumage and behaviours, which allows it to blend into the rushes and reeds of its wetland habitats, making it particularly difficult to spot. Despite being rarely seen, Australasian bittern males have a distinct "booming" call that can carry long distances. This call is said to resemble that of a Bunyip, which is why the Australasian bittern is often known as "the Bunyip Bird" in parts of Australia. Physically, the Australasian bittern stands around 66-76 cm tall with a wingspan of around a metre long. Its streaky, beige, mottled plumage allows it to camouflage itself among the reeds and rushes of its habitat to avoid predators and hunt for prey, undetected. The species primarily feeds on fish, amphibians, and invertebrates, which it hunts by quietly stalking through shallow waters or remaining "frozen" before ambushing its prey. Historically, the Australasian bittern was described in the early 19th century and has since been of significant interest due to its cryptic nature. The species is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and continues to experience population declines resulting from habitat reduction and disturbance from wetland drainage, climate change and agricultural expansion. Conservation efforts are therefore becoming increasingly necessary for its survival. Researchers continue to attempt to understand this birds' daily patterns, ecology, and breeding behaviour to improve current conservation strategies, although their cryptic nature makes this particularly difficult.

Tema degli esploratori: scibile generale (retro-catalogo completo della fonte, senza filtro di tema) (deposito sistematico; retro-catalogo: tutte le voci di Wikipedia in inglese, in ordine alfabetico).
Fonte: Wikipedia in inglese, voce «Australasian bittern» — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australasian_bittern
Wikidata Q783076: «specie di uccello» (dati Wikidata in CC0 1.0) — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q783076
Autori: i contributori di Wikipedia (cronologia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australasian_bittern?action=history).
Licenza: Creative Commons Attribuzione-Condividi allo stesso modo 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Il riuso richiede attribuzione e stessa licenza.
Estratto dell'introduzione non modificato nel contenuto; revisione 1374579323, consultata il 2026-11-10T10:38:33.208Z tramite l'API ufficiale di Wikipedia. Impronta SHA-256 dell'estratto: ea90a1f22cce608b3c32650c613d1a5deccda333e14457b6cd65335040f411ff