Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus)
About the Australasian Bittern
The Australasian bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus), or Matuku-hūrepo in Māori, is a stocky, sizeable and elusive heron-like bird native to the wetlands of Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia. It belongs to the bittern subfamily of the heron family Ardeidae. The Australasian bittern is best known for its cryptic plumage and behaviours, which allows it to blend into the rushes and reeds of its wetland habitats, making it particularly difficult to spot. Despite being rarely seen, Australasian bittern males have a distinct "booming" call that can carry long distances. This call is said to resemble that of a Bunyip, which is why the Australasian bittern is often known as "the Bunyip Bird" in parts of Australia.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 4 recordings for this species: 1 CC BY-NC-SA · 1 CC BY-NC-ND. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in Australia, New Zealand in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- American BitternBotaurus lentiginosusrecording
- Eurasian BitternBotaurus stellarisrecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.