Bittern (Sun)

The Sun Bittern builds a bulky nest in trees and lays two or three rusty to brownish eggs that are incubated by both sexes. Because the Sun Bittern is exceptionally good at catching flies and spiders, Sun Bittern chicks are sometimes taken from their nests and raised as pets. The birds are also hunted occasionally.The Sun Bittern is water-edge bird from Guatemala to southern Brazil/Paraguay. It has strikingly patterned wings, which the male spreads in courtship and threat displays. The sun bittern is about 43 cm (17 inches) long, with full wings and a long tail beautifully marked in browns, yellows, black, and white. It lives on the ground along forest streams and feeds on insects and crustaceans caught using its bill.  

The Sun Bittern builds a bulky nest in trees and lays two or three rusty to brownish eggs that are incubated by both sexes.

Because the Sun Bittern is exceptionally good at catching flies and spiders, Sun Bittern chicks are sometimes taken from their nests and raised as pets. The birds are also hunted occasionally. (Discovery Cove, FL)