#0804 · 🐦 birds
Little Bittern
🇳🇱 Woudaap ·Botaurus minutus
9 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
The little bittern ( Botaurus minutus ) is a wading bird in the heron family, Ardeidae. This species was formerly placed in the genus Ixobrychus .
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 23 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist.
- 7,176 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Weighs only about 147 g.
- Scientifically named in 1766 (260 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Little Bittern
- Nederlands
- Woudaap
- scientific name
- Botaurus minutus
- class
- Aves
- order
- Pelecaniformes
- family
- Ardeidae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 23
- sightings in Europe
- 5,327
- sightings worldwide
- 7,176
- GBIF records in NL
- 550
- weight
- 147 g
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1766
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Ardeidae
#0534 📷 7Grey Heron
🇳🇱 Blauwe Reiger
Ardea cinerea
LC 👀 7.5k in NL
#0568 📷 10Great Egret
🇳🇱 Grote zilverreiger
Ardea alba
LC 👀 2k in NL
#0612 📷 9Little Egret
🇳🇱 Kleine Zilverreiger
Egretta garzetta
LC 👀 634 in NL
#0675 📷 8Purple Heron
🇳🇱 Purperreiger
Ardea purpurea
LC 👀 215 in NL
#0701 📷 10Western Cattle-Egret
🇳🇱 Koereiger
Ardea ibis
LC 👀 155 in NL
#0703 📷 7Eurasian Bittern
🇳🇱 Roerdomp
Botaurus stellaris
LC 👀 153 in NL
#0711 📷 8Black-crowned Night Heron
🇳🇱 Kwak
Nycticorax nycticorax
LC 👀 137 in NL
#0816 📷 10Squacco Heron
🇳🇱 Ralreiger
Ardeola ralloides
LC 👀 19 in NL
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 1578961, Wikidata Q25587867, GBIF 2480850, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.