Sun
Bittern
(Eurypygahelias)
Photographed at
Discovery Cove, Orlando, Florida Mar 2011
The
Sun Bittern is water-edge bird from Guatemala to southern Brazil/Paraguay. It
has strikingly patterned wings, which the male spreads in courtship and threat
displays. The sun bittern is about 43 cm (17 inches) long, with full wings and
a long tail beautifully marked in browns, yellows, black, and white. It lives
on the ground along forest streams and feeds on insects and crustaceans caught
using its bill.
It
builds a bulky nest in trees and lays two or three rusty to brownish eggs that
are incubated by both sexes.
Because the Sun
Bittern is exceptionally good at catching flies and
spiders, Sun Bittern chicks are sometimes
taken from their nests and raised as pets. The birds are also hunted
occasionally.
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