LITTLE BITTERN
This heron is the size of a small pigeon, unless you see it, you will not believe your eyes. What a great little bird, the smallest heron in Europe. The male has black upperparts which can have a greenish hue and a black crown. It has large buff coloured wing patches which help to identify it whilst in flight. It has slightly streaked buff neck and chest and greenish-yellow legs. The female has a black crown, but her back is streaked brown.
This is a shy bird and spends most of it time in thick reeds. When it is alarmed, it strikes the typical bittern pose of staring at you with its head stretched up. It looks kind of dumpy until it reaches out with its long neck to grab a morsel of food. They eat aquatic insects, frogs and small fish. Due to its diminutive size, it prefers shallow water with a dense cover of reeds.
