Yellow Bittern

The yellow bittern is a small bittern, 36 to 38 cm long, with a short neck, longish ivory bill, yellow-green legs, a short black tail and yellow irises. It breeds in the northern Indian subcontinent and east to the Russian Far East, Japan and Indonesia, and is mainly resident, though some northern birds migrate short distances. The male has a dark cap, chestnut head and neck, dull yellow body above and buff below (Wikipedia, general species account).

It was moved from the genus Ixobrychus to Botaurus after a 2023 study. Nationally Near Threatened (Sri Lanka National Red List 2012, listed as Ixobrychus sinensis).