Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Pelecaniformes > Ardeidae > Ixobrychus > Ixobrychus exilis

Ixobrychus exilis (Least Bittern)

Synonyms: Ardea exilis (homotypic); Ardetta erythromelas
Language: French; Spanish

Wikipedia Abstract

The least bittern (Ixobrychus exilis) is a small heron, the smallest member of the family Ardeidae found in the Americas.
View Wikipedia Record: Ixobrychus exilis

Infraspecies

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
10
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
36
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 20.8874
EDGE Score: 3.08591

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  80 grams
Birth Weight [3]  10 grams
Breeding Habitat [2]  Freshwater marshes
Wintering Geography [2]  Widespread
Wintering Habitat [2]  Freshwater marshes
Diet [4]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Carnivore (Vertebrates), Piscivore
Diet - Ectothermic [4]  10 %
Diet - Fish [4]  60 %
Diet - Invertibrates [4]  30 %
Forages - Ground [4]  50 %
Forages - Water Surface [4]  50 %
Clutch Size [6]  4
Clutches / Year [1]  2
Incubation [5]  18 days
Mating System [3]  Monogamy
Snout to Vent Length [1]  11 inches (28 cm)
Wing Span [7]  17 inches (.43 m)

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

+ Click for partial list (100)Full list (108)

Biodiversity Hotspots

Predators

Buteo jamaicensis (Red-tailed Hawk)[5]
Chelydra serpentina (Common Snapping Turtle)[5]
Circus cyaneus (Northern Harrier)[5]

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Cardiofilaria pavlovskyi[8]
Phagicola angeloi <Unverified Name>[8]
Posthodiplostomum boydae <Unverified Name>[8]

Range Map

External References

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
2Partners in Flight Avian Conservation Assessment Database, version 2017. Accessed on January 2018.
3Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
4Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
5The Breeding Ecology of Least Bitterns (Ixobrychus exilis) at Agassiz and Mingo National Wildlife Refuges, Karen Elizabeth Arnold, Thesis for Master of Science Major in Wildlife and Fisheries South Dakota State University 2005
6Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
7New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
8Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0