Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Pierre and Miquelon (B) (P), St Vincent and The Grenadines, Turks and Caicos Islands, USA (B).
Vagrant to Denmark, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Jamaica, Norway, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, Virgin Islands (British), Virgin Islands (U.S.).
Northern and central America, from southern and central Canada to Panama; West Indies.
 
Population
Estimated population is 3,000,000 (2010).
American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) [XC807455]
by Jeff Stewart from Municipality Of Leamington (near Wheatley), Essex County, Ontario, Canada (nocturnal flight call)
American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) [XC368194]
by Jeff Dyck from Sherburne NWR, Sherburne, Minnesota, United States (song)
Subspecies
May form superspecies with Pinnated Bittern (Botaurus pinnatus).
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7