Other Names.—Thunder-pump; Bum Cluck; Stake-Driver; Plum Pudd’n.
Description.—Sexes similar; larger than Crow. Upperparts brown, considerably mottled, streaked, and barred with black; a glossy black streak from corners of mouth down sides of neck; throat white; neck and breast marked with broad buffy brown streaks, which are mottled with brownish gray, in imitation of dead cat-tail leaves; belly buffy; feet greenish; bill greenish yellow at base, blackish at tip; eyes bright yellow. Length: 28 inches, with neck stretched out.
Range in Pennsylvania.—Fairly common migrant and summer resident, nesting only in marshy situations. It arrives in early April and leaves in late September or early October.
Nest.—A platform of cat-tail leaves and stalks, or other dead vegetation, usually placed in a remote section of some marsh, among rather high weeds. Eggs: 3 to 5, pale buffy brown.
American Bittern
The Bittern is a terrestrial heron and rarely alights in trees. It may be confused with the immature Black-crowned Night Heron, which, unlike the Bittern, often perches on a prominent branch or on a tree top.
To know the Bittern one must penetrate the swamp. From the cat-tails, a great brown bird arises, green feet awkwardly dangling. Rapidly the creature makes away, once it has started; perhaps it utters a startled squawk as it jumps from the grass.
In the spring, male Bitterns have a remarkable courtship ceremony which is accompanied by the queer sounds which have given the bird most of its common names. These names, most of which are very good renditions of the queer sounds the birds give, are: “Bum Cluck” or “Plum Pudd’n.” The familiar nicknames, “Stake-Driver” and “Thunder-Pump” also suggest the sounds. While they give these sounds, the male birds inflate their necks and fluff out their feathers, as they strut and bow, and snap their bills.
The sitting mother bird depends greatly upon her remarkably protective coloration. Taken unawares, the hunting Bittern will stand erect with bill pointing skyward, realizing that its dull colors, its streaked breast, and its sharp bill all resemble cat-tail leaves. The eyes of a Bittern are so arranged that the bird can point its bill straight up yet at the same time look directly at us as we approach. Its golden-yellow eyes have a serpentine appearance.
Young Bitterns, in their ragged natal down, are odd creatures. They clamber about their crude cradle, soon developing remarkable strength in toes and feet.
The Bittern and young Black-crowned Night Heron are our only large, brown herons; the Bittern has yellow eyes; the young Black-crown has dark brown eyes.