Editing Cinnamon bittern

{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{speciesbox
| image = Cinnamon_bittern_or_chestnut_bittern_(Ixobrychus_cinnamomeus)_Photograph_by_Shantanu_Kuveskar.jpg
| image_caption = In Mangaon, [[Maharashtra]], [[India]]
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name=iucn>{{cite iucn |title=''Ixobrychus cinnamomeus'' |author=BirdLife International |date=2016 |page=e.T22697323A93608162 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22697323A93608162.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref>
| genus = Botaurus
| species = cinnamomeus
| authority = ([[Johann Friedrich Gmelin|Gmelin, JF]], 1789)
| range_map = Ixobrychus_cinnamomeus_map.svg
| range_map_caption = {{leftlegend|Yellow|Breeding}}{{leftlegend|Green|Year-round}}{{leftlegend|Blue|Nonbreeding}}
}}

The '''cinnamon bittern''' ('''''Botaurus cinnamomeus''''') or '''chestnut bittern''' is a small Old World [[bittern]], breeding in tropical and subtropical Asia from India east to China and [[Indonesia]]. It is mainly resident, but some northern birds [[bird migration|migrate]] short distances. This species was formerly placed in the [[genus]] ''Ixobrychus''.

==Taxonomy==
The cinnamon bittern was [[Species description|formally described]] in 1789 by the German naturalist [[Johann Friedrich Gmelin]] in his revised and expanded edition of [[Carl Linnaeus]]'s ''[[Systema Naturae]]''. He placed it with herons, cranes, egrets and bitterns in the [[genus]] ''[[Ardea (bird)|Ardea]]'' and coined the [[binomial nomenclature|binomial name]] ''Ardea cinnamomea''.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1789 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 2 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page=643 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656136 }}</ref> Gmelin based his description on the "Chinese heron" that had been included by the English ornithologist [[John Latham (ornithologist)|John Latham]] in his multi-volume ''A General Synopsis of Birds''. Latham had based his own description on a partial specimen in the [[British Museum]].<ref>{{ cite book | last=Latham | first=John | author-link=John Latham (ornithologist) | year=1785 | title=A General Synopsis of Birds | volume=3, Part 1 | publisher=Printed for Leigh and Sotheby | location=London | page=77, No. 43 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40078834 }}</ref> The cinnamon bittern was formerly placed in the genus ''Ixobrychus''. A [[molecular phylogenetic]] study of the heron family Ardeidae published in 2023 found that ''Ixobrychus'' was [[paraphyletic]]. To create a [[monophyletic]] genus, ''Ixobrychus'' was merged into the genus ''[[Botaurus]]'' that had been introduced in 1819 by the English naturalist [[James Francis Stephens]].<ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Hruska | first1=J.P. | last2=Holmes | first2=J. | last3=Oliveros | first3=C. | last4=Shakya | first4=S. | last5=Lavretsky | first5=P. | last6=McCracken | first6=K.G. | last7=Sheldon | first7=F.H. | last8=Moyle | first8=R.G. | date=2023 | title=Ultraconserved elements resolve the phylogeny and corroborate patterns of molecular rate variation in herons (Aves: Ardeidae) | journal=Ornithology | pages=ukad005 | doi=10.1093/ornithology/ukad005}}</ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Ibis, spoonbills, herons, Hamerkop, Shoebill, pelicans | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/pelicans/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=20 August 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Chesser | first1=R.T. | last2=Billerman | first2=S.M. | last3=Burns | first3=K.J. | last4=Cicero | first4=C. | last5=Dunn | first5=J.L. | last6=Hernández-Baños | first6=B.E. | last7=Jiménez | first7=R.A. | last8=Johnson | first8=O. | last9=Kratter | first9=A.W. | last10=Mason | first10=N.A. | last11=Rasmussen | first11=P.C. | last12=Remsen | first12=J.V.J. | date=2024 | title=Sixty-fifth Supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s Check-list of North American Birds | journal=Ornithology | volume=141 | issue=3 | pages=ukae019 | doi=10.1093/ornithology/ukae019 | doi-access=free }}</ref> The genus name ''Botaurus'' is [[Medieval Latin]] for a bittern. The specific epithet ''cinnamomeus'' is [[Latin]] meaning 'cinnamon coloured'.<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n75/mode/1up 75], [https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n108/mode/1up 108]}}</ref> The species is [[monotypic]]: no [[subspecies]] are recognised.<ref name=ioc/>

==Description==
[[File:Cinnamon bittern.jpg|thumb|In [[Mangalajodi]], [[Odisha]]]]
It is a small bittern at {{cvt|38|cm}} length. Possessing a short neck and longish bill, the male is uniformly cinnamon above and buff below. The female is similar but her back and crown are brown, and the juvenile is like the female but heavily streaked brown below. When surprised on its nest or concerned, it assumes the characteristic attitude of bitterns, termed the ''on-guard''. The neck is stretched perpendicularly, bill pointing skyward, while the bird freezes and becomes very hard to see among the surrounding reeds.<ref name=ali-daniel>{{cite book |author=Salim, A. |author1-link=Salim Ali (ornithologist) |author2=Daniel, J.C. |author2-link=J. C. Daniel (naturalist) |name-list-style=amp |title=The book of Indian Birds, Twelfth Centenary edition |year=1983 |publisher=[[Bombay Natural History Society]]/[[Oxford University Press]] |location=New Delhi}}</ref>

==Distribution and habitat==
[[File:Cinnamon bittern, Van Vihar National Park Bhopal, May 3017.jpg|thumb|Cinnamon bittern, [[Van Vihar National Park]], [[Bhopal]], May 2017]]
The species has an extremely large range throughout Asia; there are breeding populations from India to Indonesia. Vagrants have been in Micronesia, the Seychelles and Afghanistan, among other locations. Global population estimates are uncertain and range from 130,000 to 2,000,000 individuals.<ref name=iucn/>

==Behaviour and ecology==
The cinnamon bittern breeds in [[reed bed]]s, nesting on platforms of reeds in shrubs. Four to six eggs are laid. The species can be difficult to see, given their skulking lifestyle and reed bed habitat, but tend to emerge at dusk, when they can be seen creeping almost cat-like in search of [[frog]]s. Cinnamon bitterns feed on [[insect]]s, [[fish]] and [[amphibian]]s.<ref name=ali-daniel/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q204111}}

[[Category:Botaurus|cinnamon bittern]]
[[Category:Bitterns|cinnamon bittern]]
[[Category:Birds of China]]
[[Category:Birds of Indomalaya]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1789|cinnamon bittern]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin|cinnamon bittern]]