075 Sunbittern in Encontro das Águas State Park Photo by Giles Laurent🐦

Photo: Giles Laurent · CC BY-SA 4.0

SpeciesEurypygiformesEurypygidae
Birds

🐦Sunbittern

Eurypyga helias (Pallas, 1781)

The sunbittern is a bittern-like bird of tropical regions of the Americas, and the sole member of the family Eurypygidae and genus Eurypyga. It is found in Central and South America, and has three subspecies. The sunbittern shows both morphological and molecular similarities with the kagu of New Caledonia, indicating a Gondwanan origin, both species being placed in the clade Eurypygiformes.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Photos
3
Measurements
12
vs you
≈ 1/300th of your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2020.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
0.21 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
15 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Sunbittern

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
0.21 kg
AVONET
Other figures ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 0.21 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Tail length
0.14 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Wing length
0.22 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Beak length
0.06 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tarsus length
0.05 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
15 years
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Gestation
27 days
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Litter size
about 2
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
Carnivore
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Habitat
Wetland
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Lifestyle
Terrestrial
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
0.2 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Sunbittern yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classAves
  4. ›orderEurypygiformes
  5. ›familyEurypygidae
  6. ›genusEurypyga
  7. ›speciesEurypyga helias
Full lineage
  1. orderSauria
  2. classBirds · Aves
  3. familyEurypygidae
  4. genusEurypyga
All 11 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. classBirds · Aves
  10. familyEurypygidae
  11. genusEurypyga
More

More about the Sunbittern

In other languages
Sonnenralle (de), солнечная цапля (ru), tigana (es), Bitó del sol (ca), slunatec nádherný (cs), Solrikse (da) … and 23 more languages
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