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Yellow
Bittern Ixobrychus sinensis Pucong Kuning (Malay)  Yellow
Bitterns are the smallest of the bitterns. Hunting small fish, frogs
and invertebrates, they take smaller prey than the Cinnamon Bitterns,
with which they share their habitat.Like other bitterns, Yellow Bitterns are solitary. They hunt quietly alone using their long powerful bills to grab their prey. They slip easily and climb quietly among the bottom of reedbeds and undergrowth. While they usually hunt from cover, they may also forage over floating vegetation, e.g., water-hyacinth beds. They are more active at dawn and dusk.  Yellow Bitterns prefer freshwater wetlands with thick vegetation to hide and nest in: marshes, grasslands, reedbeds, ponds, reservoirs, including man-made canals, dredge-mine lagoons. They may also be found near mangroves. They are found in wetter habitats than the Cinnamon Bittern. |
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These
secretive birds are hard to spot because of their supreme camouflage. They
are usually seen only in flight, and their flights are usually brief and
low. For more about bittern behaviour in general.Breeding: Yellow Bitterns that live in Singapore breed year-round.
The males perform a breeding display, advertising from bush tops, hunched with throat puffed out and base of the bill flushed red, accompanied by a soft, monotonous crrew crrew song. They also make slow-flapping flight circuits and pursue females.
Yellow Bitterns prefer to nest in dense vegetation near water. In Singapore, they used to nest among the fern thickets and Water Hyacinths in the swamps at Kranji. Elsewhere, they also nest in tall rushes and reeds, flooded rice fields, undergrowth, dense trees near water. Where there are a lot of Yellow Bitterns in one area, they may nest near each other.
They
make a small neat nest, generally a thick pad of sticks, reeds, grass. Nests
are 10cm-3m above the water line, sometimes roofed by surrounding vegetation.
3-5, average 4, pale blue-green eggs are laid. Both parents share incubation
duties. The chicks have pale peach-pink down and can climb before they can
fly. The chicks stay away from the nest from about day 15. 
Migration:
Many Yellow Bitterns are resident in Southeast Asia, but local numbers
usually swell with winter migrants. These breed in China and Japan and may
winter as far away as eastern Indonesia. But some Yellow Bitterns breed
in Singapore.Status and threats: Yellow Bitterns are still common and currently not endangered. But they are affected by habitat destruction and overuse of pesticides which poison their prey and them. Ironically, Bitterns may actually help control insect pests on rice fields and should be encouraged.
REFERENCES
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- Morten Strange, "A Photographic Guide to Birds of Malaysia and Singapore: including Southeast Asia, the Philippines and Borneo", Periplus, 2000 (p. 54: description, voice, habits, distribution, status, photo).
- David R Wells, "The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula: Vol. 1 (Non-Passarines)", Academic Press, 1999 (p. 95-96: identification, distribution map, habits, habitat, migration, conservation).
- Morten Strange, "Birds of Southeast Asia: A photographic guide to the birds of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia", New Holland, 1998 (p. 15: photo, habitat, migration).
- Lim Kim Seng and Dana Gardner, "Birds: An Illustrated Field Guide to the Birds of Singapore", Sun Tree Publishing Ltd., 1997 (p. 85-86: identification, status in Singapore, distribution, diagram, number of species)
- G W H Davison and Chew Yen Fook, "A Photographic Guide to Birds of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore", New Holland Publishers Ltd., 1995 (p. 19: identification, status in Singapore, distribution, photo).
- Morten Strange and Allen Jeyarajasingam, "Birds: A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore", Sun Tree Publishing, 1993 (p. 71: description, distribution, habits, habitat, photo).
- Clive Briffett, "A Guide to the Common Birds of Singapore", BP Science Centre,1992 (p. 48: habit, habitat).
- Christopher Hails, "Birds of Singapore" illustrated by Frank Jarvis, Times Editions, 1987 reprinted 1995 (p. 57: habits, description, status in Singapore, and lovely drawings of the birds).
- Sungei Buloh Handbook (p. 27: photo).
- Lim Kim Seng, "Pocket Checklist of the Birds of the Republic of Singapore", Nature Society (Singapore), 1999 (Abundance, status, Chinese and Malay names).