Yellow Bittern

Yellow Bittern (Ixobrychus sinensis) is a very small bittern with yellow-buff plumage, a darker crown and back, and a slim pointed bill. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It inhabits reedbeds, marshes and rice fields, climbing through emergent vegetation and taking fish, frogs, insects and other small wetland prey near the water's edge. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. Japanese records place it within the country's documented avifauna as a resident, migrant or visitor (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).