A single Black Bittern was recorded at the Byron Bay Wetland many years ago. The Byron Bird Buddies regularly take part in the national Bittern Surveys, listening across the wetlands on the evening of the full moon in late spring, but for a long time without success. So the recording below was very closely examined, compared to others on birding apps and at the website Xeno Canto. The conclusion was Black Bittern; calling from around the car park area or from Cells I and J of the wetland.
The bird was heard on three successive nights at the end of October and then again in the early morning of the 10th of November.
Sound Recording taken at Byron Bay Wetlands boundary:
Black Bittern photographed on the bank at Yellow Waters, Kakadu in the Northern Territory, August 2018.