Status and distribution VAGRANT Breeds in North America, a summer visitor as far north as the Great Slave Lake and Hudson Bay, wintering in southern USA.

A vagrant to the Western Palearctic recorded in Iceland and the Faroes, Britain and Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Spain, the Canary Is and Azores. Most records come from the British Is, ( < 75), in late autumn and winter but there has been a decline in records since the middle of the 20th century. A Danish record from May-Jun 2001 involved a booming individual.

Habitat Marshes with dense vegetation and along reed-fringed freshwater margins, more often seen in the open than the Bittern, especially on passage and in winter.