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Bitterns
Botaurus
Botaurus is a genus of bitterns, a group of wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae. The genus name Botaurus was given by the English naturalist James Francis Stephens, and is derived from Medieval Latin butaurus, "bittern", itself constructed from the Middle English name for the Eurasian Bittern, Botor. Pliny gave a fanciful derivation from Bos (ox) and taurus (bull), because the bittern's call resembles the bellowing of a bull.
14 branches of this genus, most-observed first · about 13 known species
American Bittern
speciesBotaurus lentiginosus
Little Bittern
speciesBotaurus minutus
Least Bittern
speciesBotaurus exilis
Yellow Bittern
speciesBotaurus sinensis
Eurasian Bittern
speciesBotaurus stellaris
Cinnamon Bittern
speciesBotaurus cinnamomeus
Black Bittern
speciesBotaurus flavicollis
Australasian Bittern
speciesBotaurus poiciloptilus
Pinnated Bittern
speciesBotaurus pinnatus
Dwarf Bittern
speciesBotaurus sturmii
Stripe-backed Bittern
speciesBotaurus involucris
Schrenck's Bittern
speciesBotaurus eurhythmus
Black-backed Bittern
speciesBotaurus dubius
New Zealand Bittern
speciesBotaurus novaezelandiae
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Botaurus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 5030.