ML080280416

Information on Endangered Species - Least Bittern

ML080280416
Person / Time
Site:	Susquehanna
Issue date:	01/23/2008
From:	State of PA, Game Commission
To:	Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
TAC MD3021, TAC MD3022
Download: ML080280416 (3)

Text

Pennsylvania Game Commission - State Wildlife Management Agency: Least Bittern Pagel1 of 3 Ad an.ed..

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• Home Endangered Species Search Pennsylvania Game Commission - State Wildlife Management Agency Home Printable Version eMail widl[ife Bird Wal StateW Least Bittern Endangc Conserv Watchat CURRENT STATUS:

In Wildlife Pennsylvania, endangered; Mute sw Migratory Bird of Management W

Concern in the Northeast.

POPULATION TREND: Least bitterns (Ixobrychus Exilis) are locally uncommon breeders in the Tinicum area in Philadelphia County; at Presque Isle State Park in Erie County; and in larger emergent wetlands in the state's northwestern counties.

They are rare in suitable habitat elsewhere in the state. Least bitterns are declining in areas where their largest historical populations have been found. At Tinicum, ornly a few pairs have been nesting in recent years. In the late 1950s, however, as many as 27 nests were recorded there. Least bitterns were first designated as a threatened species in 1979.

In

1997, the species was downgraded to endangered.

IDENTIFYING CHARACTERISTICS: The smallest member of the heron family, the least bittern is 11 to 14 inches in length and has a 16-to 18-inch wingspan. This primarily black and tan bird has a blackish-green cap and back, brown neck and underparts, and a white throat. The least bittern is most readily identified in flight by conspicuous, chestnut-colored wing patches.

A rare, darker phase also exists.

When disturbed, the least bittern is more likely to run than fly, and like its relative, the American bittern, it also has the habit of freezing with its bill pointed straight up when alarmed.

BIOLOGY-NATURAL HISTORY: The least bittern nests in wetland areas throughout the eastern United States and along the Pacific coast. It spends the winter from our southern states south to Colombia, South America. This species is a regular migrant through the state, but it nests regularly' in our northwest and southeast corners only, and possibly in a few other scattered locations, but not regularly or in significant numbers. The least bittern arrives in Pennsylvania in April and builds its platform nest of reeds and grasses near open water.

Four or five pale blue or green eggs are laid in the six-inch nest in mid or late May. The young hatch in just under three weeks.

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WaL, loci Game News http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?a=486&q= 152631 1/23/2008

Pennsylvania Game Commission - State Wildlife Management Agency: Least Bittern Page 2 of 3 Cr~wi~o~m' 7OL 11[1iftit PREFERRED HABITAT:

Least bitterns thrive in dense marshland environments containing cattails and reeds, along the coast and inland, where they feed primarily on small fish, amphibians, insects and small mammals. They frequent brushy wetlands more frequently than their larger cousin, the American bittern.

REASONS FOR BEING ENDANGERED:

Nesting opportunities for this species in Pennsylvania are limited and decreasing as the wetland habitat it needs has been extensively drained or impounded.

Loss of 'tidal marshes-along the Delaware River has been key to the bird's decline in the state. Its future is largely dependent upon safeguarding the state's remaining large marshes.

MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS: Areas where this species is known to nest should be uncompromisingly protected. Surveys to further determine where least bitterns nest are ongoing.

Marshland habitats, when possible, should be managed to provide additional nesting habitat.

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ntact Us I Pennsylvania State Website Pennsylvania Game Commission, 2001 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17110-9797 http://www;pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?a=486&q= 152631 1/23/2008