• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note
Ixobrychus minutus and I. dubius (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as I. minutus following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
del Hoyo, J.; Collar, N. J.; Christie, D. A.; Elliott, A.; Fishpool, L. D. C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2016	Least Concern
2014	Least Concern
2012	Not Recognised
2010	Not Recognised
2009	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	118 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	9,210,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	11,500,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	4.1 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been estimated owing to recent taxonomic splits.

Trend justification: The overall population trend is decreasing, although some populations have unknown trends (Wetlands International 2006).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Australia	extant	native	yes
Indonesia	extant	native			yes
New Zealand	extant	vagrant
Papua New Guinea	extant	native			yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Seasonally Flooded Agricultural Land	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Seasonally Flooded Agricultural Land	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Water Storage Areas (over 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Water Storage Areas (over 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Vegetation Above High Tide Level	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Vegetation Above High Tide Level	suitable	breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	suitable	breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Inland Deltas	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Inland Deltas	suitable	breeding
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Australian Little Bittern Ixobrychus dubius. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/australian-little-bittern-ixobrychus-dubius on 18/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 18/12/2024.