Rare bird spotted at a hotel in Taraz
According to the press service of the Zhambyl Regional Forestry and Wildlife Preservation Inspectorate, Phoenix hotel's staff called the inspectors claiming a big bird flew into the hotel yard.
The inspectors who arrived at the hotel examined the bird and determined that it was a Eurasian bittern (also known as great bittern). It was established that the bird has been neither injured nor having any signs of infectious diseases.
The inspectorate employees took the bird out of the city and released into its natural habitat.
It is a common knowledge that Eurasian bitterns are of the bittern subfamily of the heron family Ardeidae. The rare bird is in danger of extinction. It breeds in the area from Portugal to Japan and Sakhalin.
In Kazakhstan, great bitterns build their nests by lakes and reservoirs in the lowland part of the country. Sometimes they pass winter periods south of Turkestan region. The birds inhabit lakes and sluggish rivers having abundant reed or cattail. They come to the nesting site between early March and mid-April. Autumn departure starts in late August, and most birds already fly away by the end of October.