Schrenck's Bittern

Von Schrenck's bittern or Schrenck's bittern (Botaurus eurhythmus) is a small bittern named after Leopold von Schrenck, the 19th-century Russian zoologist. It breeds in southeast Siberia, east China, the Korean Peninsula and Japan. It winters from the Malay Peninsula to the Greater Sunda Islands, Sulawesi and the Philippines. This species was formerly placed in the genus Ixobrychus. Von Schrenck's bittern was formally described in 1873 by the English naturalist Robert Swinhoe under the binomial name Ardetta eurhythma. (Wikipedia, general species account).

A molecular phylogenetic study of the heron family Ardeidae published in 2023 found that Ixobrychus was paraphyletic. Von Schrenck's bittern breeds in reed beds and tends to emerge at dusk to forage for prey. He designated the type locality as the Amor (Xiamen) and Shanghai regions of China. Swinhoe realised that the species had been illustrated in a book by the Russian zoologist Leopold von Schrenck published in 1858. (Wikipedia, general species account).