looduskalender.ee

 

The bittern chicks are just over a couple of weeks old and according to the observations of ornithologists the female will not feed them in the nest for more than three weeks. As we see in the video the older bittern chick knows that ”fish is in a beak”, but the female leaves the food beggar with an empty stomach. If it is a little hungry the bittern chicks will follow the female more willingly (who wants to go out roaming when there is a ready-laid food table already?).

 

She must teach her young to catch small fish and tadpoles and she tries to show her young by example already in the nest. In the next few days we are likely to see the young making their first short trips near the nest and then one day they will be gone...

 

When the bittern family leaves the nest it will be about five weeks until the chicks  fledge. We can hear the bittern family rattling about in the reeds but when they sense danger they turn silent and assume the ”pole position” – beak turned towards the sky - and even an experienced birdwatcher has great difficulties to spot the well camouflaged birds in the reeds.

 

Bitterns are very selective about the nest site, be it reeds at a lake, a river or the sea. Water level variations must not be large, and they will not nest in cut reed banks.

 

The bittern male who has not been seen on camera, signals until the end of the nesting season that he is the lord of this territory by his booming call. On his ”own lands” he practices polygamy, with three or four females. The male is significantly larger, body length up to ¾ of a meter, and about a third heavier than the female – one and a half kilo. Bitterns have a wingspan of up to 1,30 metres.

 

 

Curiosity starts fishing