Rohrdommeln Vienna

Both bittern species are highly specialised inhabitants of extensive, largely undisturbed reed beds along lakes, ponds, oxbows and slow-flowing waters. The great bittern is heron-sized with a stocky body, short neck and predominantly yellow-brown plumage marked with dark brown patterns. The little bittern, at roughly 33 to 38 centimetres in body length, is the smallest European heron and prefers somewhat smaller transition zones with dense reed, bulrush and adjoining willow thickets. Both species need water-saturated, structurally diverse and multi-year reed stands with shallow water zones as feeding and breeding habitat.

Their behaviour is exceptionally secretive. The plumage provides perfect camouflage in the reed because pattern and colour mimic light and shadow between the stalks. When threatened, especially the great bittern adopts the typical bittern stance, stretching head and bill vertically upward and swaying with the wind in step with the reed. More familiar than the sight of the bird is the call of the great bittern, a deep, dull booming note that under favourable conditions can be heard several kilometres away and that earned it the German folk name Moorochse, meaning marsh ox. The little bittern, by contrast, gives short barking calls and is mostly active at dusk.

The population decline in Germany and Central Europe is dramatic. Between 1970 and 1990 numbers fell by more than half. In western Germany the great bittern has largely disappeared, while a few hundred breeding pairs remain in the east, mainly across the Mecklenburg lake district, along the Middle Elbe and Lower Havel and in Lusatia. The little bittern is classified as severely endangered on the German Red List of breeding birds. Main drivers are the drainage and destruction of wetlands, the loss of large, multi-year reed beds, nutrient inputs and eutrophication, and increasing disturbance from water sports, angling and shoreline recreation.

For hunters the bitterns are not quarry but key indicator species for the quality of wetland habitats. Shooting grounds with reed belts, transition zones or pond landscapes contribute to the survival of both species through the care and protection of these habitats. Effective measures are the preservation and enlargement of undisturbed, water-saturated reed stands, rewetting of drained areas, avoidance of large-scale reed cutting, restrained placement of high seats and paths along sensitive shorelines, and effective predator management around known breeding waters. Hunting grounds therefore play a key role in safeguarding the last strongholds of one of the most secretive and most threatened bird groups of our wetlands.