Mysterious plumage - like an encryption chiselled with gold and black chevrons, fierce behaviour and a slow gait typical of herons - that's how you could describe the "solitary ghost of the reed beds", better known as the Bittern. In our region, it is a regular migrant that can be seen between December and February.
The majority of the Bittern population lives in Eastern Europe (Russia, Romania, Belarus, Poland and Ukraine) between April and July, in the large reed marshes that are their ideal breeding habitat. It is during this period that the male emits a characteristic foghorn-like song to seduce the females. The bittern's nest is built on the water from dry reeds, providing a platform for the 3 to 5 eggs laid on average by the female, which hatch 25 days later.
During migration and in winter, Lake Geneva offers the Bittern some choice habitats, such as the reed beds in the Grangettes reserve. Well camouflaged in the reeds thanks to its plumage, it becomes virtually invisible when it feels threatened, adopting a typical behaviour: it stretches its neck, points its beak skywards and imitates the movement of the reed stems that surround it. The illusion is perfect.
It draws its food from shallow water, watching for the slightest fish, amphibian or aquatic insect that passes under its beak. Its long-toed legs make it very agile when hunting in the reeds. Over the last thirty years or so, Bittern populations have been declining due to the destruction of their natural habitats by human development.
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