Sunbittern | Eurypyga helias

Voice

A high, long-drawn, thin whistle, wiiiiiii, sometimes slightly rising or falling, often given from a branch over the water. When disturbed and near the nest also a hissing sound and a dry rattle.

Identification

43–48 cm. A slender bird held horizontally, with a small head, a thin long neck, a long, straight, dagger-shaped bill, a long, broad tail and rather short orange legs. The head is black with a white stripe above and a white stripe below the eye; the throat is white. Neck, breast and upperparts are finely barred and spotted in grey, brown, olive and black; the belly is pale buff. The upper mandible is black, the lower mandible orange. The tail is grey with fine wavy lines and two broad black and chestnut bands. When the wings are spread, each shows a large patch of chestnut, orange-yellow and black, framed by grey and white bands. Male and female are alike. Walks slowly and cautiously, with the neck drawn in and the head thrust forward.

Confusion species

The Sungrebe Heliornis fulica lives on the same streams, but mostly swims, is smaller and has a short bill and a black-and-white striped head and neck. Bare-throated Tiger Heron Tigrisoma mexicanum and Fasciated Tiger Heron Tigrisoma fasciatum are much larger and heavier, with a bare yellow or greenish throat and no colourful wing pattern. Sandpipers and the Green Heron lack the long, broad tail and the black-and-white head.

Habitat

Shady streams and small rivers with stones, gravel and sandbars in humid forest, also edges of pools and swamp forest; mainly in hills and foothills up to about 1,200 m, locally in the lowlands. Forages by walking slowly along the bank and in shallow water for insects, crustaceans, frogs and small fish, which it catches with a quick thrust of the bill. The nest is a globular cup of mud and plant material on a branch over or near water.

Range and movements

From the Caribbean slope of Guatemala (Izabal) through the Caribbean slope of Honduras and Nicaragua to Costa Rica and Panama, where it occurs on both slopes. Only old records are known from southern Mexico (Chiapas), where it may have disappeared. Outside the guide area in northern South America and the Amazon basin, south to Bolivia and central Brazil.

• Resident
• dark = core range, pale = thinly spread

How and when to look

Walking slowly or waiting along clear forest streams in the foothills, such as on the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica and in western Panama, gives the best chance. The high, drawn-out whistle often gives the bird away before it is seen. When it flies off, the orange wing patches become visible.

Conservation status

Least Concern. The species is scarce in much of its range and sensitive to clearing of forest along streams and to pollution and disturbance of the water. Rare and local in the north of the guide area; most widespread in Costa Rica and Panama.

Scientific name

Eurypyga helias | (Pallas, 1781)

Pallas described the species in 1781 as Ardea helias; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Eurypyga was introduced in 1811 by Illiger. Eurypyga is Greek, from eurus 'broad' and pugē 'rump, tail', after the broad, fanned tail. helias is Greek hēlias 'of the sun', after the sunburst-like eyespots on the spread wings. The specimen the first description was based on came from Suriname.