American Bitterns are known for being hard to spot, standing motionless in among camouflaging vegetation. At the end of January one had been spotted multiple times at the edge of a swamp I frequent, always near sundown making it even harder to see in the low light.
On a recent visit to the swamp I had been scanning this area as the sun illuminated it and saw nothing. I walked away to check out the corner and when I returned about 5 minutes later the sun was gone but there he was!
I don’t know if he flew or walked out into the open. I turned away for another minute or two and he had moved closer to me, nicely tucked behind some dead vines.
Taken February 8, 2019.
Nice find!
Good thing this bird was a ham, and moved in for the close-up!
Paz
It’s great fun when a bird cooperates that way!