Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus)

Abundance: Very Uncommon (at least 21 records in 12 counties, 4 in Kentucky and 8 in Tennessee, all involving single individuals [where information on number is known, as is not the case regarding the confirmed historical breeding record in the Region, where several adults must have been present]).

Status:  Transient during spring (11 records) and fall/early winter (8 records); a small Summer Resident population (2 records) also present, at least in some years; designated as a historical breeding species by the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission (2004); photographs (see links below).

Information on Records: 

26 May 1935 (2 nests, each with small young) near Morrison, Warren County, Tennessee (Albert F. Ganier, H. O. Todd, John Calhoun; Ganier 1935b; Robinson 1990 [attributes the record to an incorrect county]).

9 April 1969 (1) Warren County, Tennessee (Mary C. Wood; Parmer 1969b).

17 October 1976 (1) Hickory Valley [M. D. Williams notes], White County, Tennessee (Morris D. Williams; Williams 1977).

16 May 1982 (1) Green River Wildlife Management Area, Adair County, Kentucky (Jackie B. Elmore, Sr.).

29 April 1987 (1) northeast McCreary County, Kentucky (Brainard Palmer-Ball, Jr.; Stamm 1987c).

15 October 1989 (1) Cane Creek Park, Cookeville, Putnam County, Tennessee (Stephen J. Stedman photo; Stedman 1993), probably seen a few days earlier (Michael A. Sanders).

9 December 1998 (1) Cane Creek Park, Cookeville, Putnam County, Tennessee (Ginger K. Ensor, Stephen J. Stedman; Fekel 1999b; Stedman 1999b).

11 April 1999 (1) near Meadow Creek 8 km east of Monterey, Putnam County, Tennessee (Richard W. Simmers; Fekel 1999c).

20 April 2000 (1) Pulaski County, Kentucky (Roseanna M. Denton; Busroe 2000c).

1 April 2003 (1 adult) Smithville, DeKalb County, Tennessee (Carol D. Williams photo and unpubl. data).

5 May 2004 (1) Beech Grove Ridge, Pulaski County, Kentucky (Roseanna M. Denton; Palmer-Ball and McNeeley 2004c).

1-20 July 2004 (1) Heritage Marsh, White County, Tennessee  (Stephen J. Stedman, Douglas A. Downs et al. unpubl. data).

19 April 2005 (1) Heritage Marsh, White County, Tennessee (Stephen J. Stedman, Douglas A. Downs unpubl. data).

15 April 2006 (1) Heritage Marsh, White County, Tennessee (Stephen J. Stedman, Douglas A. Downs; Casteel 2006c).

12 October 2006 (1) near Mark, Pulaski County, Kentucky (Connie S. Neeley, Roseanna M. Denton, C. Gay Hodges unpubl. data).

15 October 2006 (1--possibly injured) Flynn Creek Rd., Jackson County, Tennessee (Michael J. Hawkins; Casteel 2007a).

18 November 2006 (1) Rt. 62, western Fentress County, Tennessee (Barbara H. Stedman; Casteel 2007a).

8 October 2007 (1) Dry Creek Unit, Barren River Wildlife Management Area, Barren County, Kentucky (David L. Roemer photo and  unpubl. data).

Mid- to late October 2007 (dried carcass found on fence 2 November 2007) Fred Tollet Rd., southern Cumberland County, Tennessee (Edmund K. LeGrand photo [7 November 2007] and unpubl. data); disintegration of the carcass was fairly rapid (see Edmund K. LeGrand photo [26 June 2008]), indicating that the bittern was undoubtedly ensnared by the fence not long before the carcass was originally found.

29 March 2008 (1) Duck Pond, Duck Pond Rd., White County, Tennessee (Douglas A. Downs, Stephen J. Stedman unpubl. data).

3 May 2009 (1) Frozen Head State Natural Area, Morgan County, Tennessee (Michael E. Hodge photo and unpubl. data).

Regional Extreme Dates:

    Early Spring: 29 March 2008 (1; White County, Tennessee; Douglas A. Downs, Stephen J. Stedman unpubl. data).

    Late Fall: 9 December 1998 (1; Putnam County, Tennessee; Ginger K. Ensor, Stephen J. Stedman; Fekel 1999b).

    Note: Most individuals are Transients, but since there once was, and possibly still is, a small breeding population in the Region, at least in some years, the extreme dates are given in the same manner as for Summer Residents.

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: No registrations.

Breeding: Confirmed (Historical).  Ganier, Todd, and Calhoun found 2 nests, each with small young, in a small (0.8 hectare), "long-established" marsh near Morrison, Warren County, Tennessee (Ganier 1935b: 24); a brief search in the vicinity of Morrison 12 August 2004 (Stephen J. Stedman, Winston A. Walden) revealed no marsh in the area, but, if still extant, it could have been overlooked.  The adult found in the Heritage Marsh, White County, Tennessee, during July 2004 always flushed from a considerable distance (20-30 m); no nest could be located near any of the sites from which it flushed, but the marsh appeared to provide suitable breeding habitat for this bittern during years with sufficient rainfall to maintain water in the marsh at a high level [2004 was such a year, but no year since has witnessed sufficient rainfall to maintain high water in the marsh during the entire breeding season].

Habitat: In migration usually present near water, often where marshy habitat is present, but sometimes located away from classic habitat, as, for example, was the DeKalb County, Tennessee, bittern, which was found in and near a weedy ditch within the city limits of Smithville.

Remarks: A record without a certain location, even as to county, was obtained during a meeting of the Tennessee Ornithological Society in Cookeville, Putnam County, Tennessee, on one of the dates ( 11-12 May 1968) of that meeting.

Counties with Observations (boldfaced) and Confirmed Historical Breeding (bold red):

To see a map (Figure 1) displaying the data in the table above, click on the boldfaced word in this sentence.

Literature Cited