Least Bittern

Ixobrychus exilis

no photo — written note
photo: Wikimedia Commons
BirdsSensitive species

The smallest heron in the Americas, climbing cattail stems rather than wading.

Field facts
HabitatCattail and bulrush marsh
RangeNorthern Indiana marshes
When to lookMay to September
StatusState endangered in Indiana (Indiana DNR / IUCN Red List)
Look-alikesGreen heron — larger and darker

Field note: It straddles two stems at once to hunt over deep water.

Lesson
Watching responsibly

Listen from a boardwalk; never push into the reed bed.

This species is treated as sensitive: locations are generalised to county level and never routed to directly.

Your records

No sightings yet. Log one from the Observe tab to earn this stamp.

Log a sighting