Black Bittern

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Kingfisher Inlet, Freshwater Lake, Cairns North, FN Qld IMG_0150 20191206 - male

Notes: Dark, with white streaking in throat, white malar stripe running into yellow stripe down
side of neck. Slender build w. very long neck, & longer, more slender bill, pale supercilium extends
no further than back to the eye, cf much larger Australasian Bittern. Male upperparts blackish.
Female upperparts paler, browner; often light rufous traces in throat, ear-coverts. Voice: booming
drawn-out 'whoom' 10–20 s intervals. Summer migrant. Hunts in dense water-edge vegetation.

Range from Pizzey & Knight^©(modified)

Greenslopes Street, Freshwater Lake, Cairns North, FNE Qld IMG_6424 20230819 - female, or juvenile but buff fringes
tending small. CLICK for another view.

Freshwater Lake, Cairns North, FNE Qld IMG_4461 20231005 - female, or juvenile but buff fringes
tending small. CLICK for another view.

Freshwater Lake, Centenary Lakes, Cairns North, FNE Qld IMG_7711 20231207 - male CLICK for another, Daintree River,
FNE Qld, 20151105.

Freshwater Lake, Cairns North, FN Qld IMG_3871 20191222

Freshwater Lake, Cairns North, FNE Qld IMG_4013 20231114 - female, or juvenile. CLICK for pic in different light.

Redcap Creek crossing, Mungana, FN Qld IMG_0127 20210505 - juvenile: paler, browner than adult female,
distinct buff fringes to more rounded upperpart feathers. . CLICK for another view.

Kingfisher Lake, Cattana Wetlands, Cairns, FN Qld IMG_6429 20210320 - chick x 2. CLICK for video of the chicks.

Freshwater Lake, Cairns North, FN Qld IMG_7713 20231209 - male

Greenslopes Street, Freshwater Lake, Cairns North, FNE Qld IMG_6423 20230819 - juvenile (broad rounded fringes on upperparts feathers).

Kingfisher Lake, Cattana Wetlands, Cairns, FN Qld IMG_4485 20231005 - juvenile