Larch Creek Birds

What the birds (and frogs) are saying at a creek in western Washington
Plate 44
American Bittern
John James Audubon, Draw
Bird

American Bittern

Botaurus lentiginosus
Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns (Ardeidae)
Winter visitor. Expected here roughly Jan to Jan.
Field marks
A stocky, streaky brown heron that, when alarmed, points its bill at the sky and sways gently, becoming a reed so convincingly that you can look straight at it and see a reed.
Male & female
Alike in plumage.
Voice
The famous 'pump-er-lunk' booming in spring, like a hand pump working in a distant well, and a hoarse 'kok' when flushed.
Diet
Fish, frogs, crayfish, insects and small mammals, stalked in slow motion in shallow water.
Habitat
Freshwater marsh with dense cattails. Secretive to the point of rudeness.
Nesting
A platform just above the water in dense marsh; 2–5 eggs.
Size
2–2¾ ft long, wingspan about 3½ ft, roughly 1½ lb: a bag of sugar standing very still and pretending to be vegetation.

A creek with a marshy margin can hold one for weeks without anyone knowing. The voice is usually the only clue, which may be the point.

Season how expected it is here, week by week

50%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecheard at the creektoday
Fig. 1. BirdNET's range model for this location: the chance this species is present in each week of the year. Orange ticks mark weeks it has actually been heard at the creek; the dashed line is today.

At the creek 2 calls on 2 days, first Oct 30, last Oct 31

0100:00 — 0 calls001:00 — 0 calls02:00 — 0 calls03:00 — 0 calls304:00 — 0 calls05:00 — 0 calls06:00 — 0 calls607:00 — 0 calls08:00 — 0 calls09:00 — 0 calls910:00 — 0 calls11:00 — 1 calls12:00 — 0 calls1213:00 — 0 calls14:00 — 0 calls15:00 — 0 calls1516:00 — 0 calls17:00 — 1 calls18:00 — 0 calls1819:00 — 0 calls20:00 — 0 calls21:00 — 0 calls2122:00 — 0 calls23:00 — 0 callssunrisesunset
Fig. 2. When it calls: all detections by hour of day (today's sunrise and sunset shown).
01Oct 2 — 0 callsOct 3 — 0 callsOct 3Oct 4 — 0 callsOct 5 — 0 callsOct 6 — 0 callsOct 7 — 0 callsOct 8 — 0 callsOct 9 — 0 callsOct 10 — 0 callsOct 10Oct 11 — 0 callsOct 12 — 0 callsOct 13 — 0 callsOct 14 — 0 callsOct 15 — 0 callsOct 16 — 0 callsOct 17 — 0 callsOct 17Oct 18 — 0 callsOct 19 — 0 callsOct 20 — 0 callsOct 21 — 0 callsOct 22 — 0 callsOct 23 — 0 callsOct 24 — 0 callsOct 24Oct 25 — 0 callsOct 26 — 0 callsOct 27 — 0 callsOct 28 — 0 callsOct 29 — 0 callsOct 30 — 1 callsOct 31 — 1 callsOct 31
Fig. 3. Calls per day over the last 30 days.

Recordings

Clearest recording · Oct 30 5:33 pm · 92% sure
spectrogram

From the encyclopedia

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.
From Wikipedia, "American bittern", CC BY-SA 4.0.