Despite the wide range of distribution and the fact that the bittern lives in riverbank reeds or near lakes, that is, where people often visit, this long-nosed swamp bird can easily go unnoticed. From two steps, even looking point blank, it is almost impossible to detect. She may be "invisible." And all thanks to its yellow-greenish plumage, which merges with the color of sedge and reeds. And also because of the pose that the bird takes at the moment of danger: it pulls the body, neck and head into a string, which makes it look like a bunch of swamp grass. Moreover, in windy weather, bittern sways along with the surrounding grass!
But the voice of the drink probably heard many. With its small size, this nocturnal swamp bird has a booming bass. In the silence of the night, her roar can frighten anyone. It used to be that for the publication of such low sounds it immerses the beak in water and “blows” like in a barrel, but now they have found that the feathered expands the esophagus, and the sound is amplified through the resonator. For this “cute voice”, remotely similar to the roar of a bull, in Ukraine bitterns are called “water bull” (water bull), and popular superstitions attribute it to a connection with evil spirits. It is believed that one who has heard the terrible cry of this bird is in for misfortune.
The appearance of the bittern is quite consistent with her voice. Naturally, she does not look like a bull, but she looks the same ugly and catching horror, like the sounds that this swamp bird makes. For many peoples, it is a symbol of ugliness. Previously, an awkward and bony person was called a drink. This feathered bird becomes even worse when it sees that it has been noticed: like an eagle owl, a bittern eats feathers, spreads bent wings to the sides, goggles, bends its neck forward. Such a sudden transformation of the "sedge beam" into an awkward scarecrow puzzles the predator for a couple of seconds. This delay is enough for the heron to fly awkwardly. On occasion, an angry bird can also hit the enemy with its faceted sharp beak.
Bittern mainly feeds on frogs, aquatic and terrestrial insects. He also eats mice, loves fish. This is a very unsociable swamp bird. It flies to our region in the spring, only during this period you can see these birds in pairs. Then you can hear the roar of the male, inviting the females to mate. If the male has only one female, he feeds the chicks with her, and if he starts a harem, the females take care of the offspring. A nest of bitterns twigs on a hummock from the stems of dry sedge or reed. In clutch usually 4-5 bluish eggs. Chicks, one might say, are even more ugly than their parents: bogey-eyed, bony, with awkwardly large paws, emitting hisses, gurgling and croaking sounds.
Adult specimens of a large bittern, which is found in the vast expanses of forest-steppes, sub-taiga and steppes, reach a body weight of up to 900 g. This rather large marsh bird, belonging to short-legged herons, has a large head and a thick neck. Her wings are long (35 cm) and wide, and the tail is short. The plumage is camouflage, yellowish-ocher, with a brown pattern. Beak and legs also serve as a heron camouflage: greenish yellow or pale green. Even in a calm state, the bittern is in a position in which it is difficult to notice: on one leg, hunched over ugly, craning its neck, motionless.
Due to the development of lakes and river banks, drainage of swamps for economic activity, the number of the species is inexorably decreasing. Some birds die during the hunt for waterfowl, as the bittern flies awkwardly and often gets hit by bullets. Bittern nests are also ravaged by swamp moons and crows. However, the main factor due to which this marsh bird has almost disappeared from our places is the reduction in the areas of reed beds along the shores of lakes and rivers. These birds have a subspecies - the Amur top, which lives in the meadows and swamps of the Amur region. This is the same awkward and bony, with wide-set eyes, bird, only smaller and with darker plumage.