Bittern on the prowl!
For three mornings in a row in late August I had seen a bittern fly over the two ponds at Ragged. On the fourth morning I kept hoping I could spot it before it took it off like it had the previous three mornings. I spent a lot of time scanning the edges of both ponds and had no luck until all of sudden I saw it fly low from one end of the pond over to the tall grasses behind the other side of the pond! As quietly as possible I made my way over along the edge of the pond just hoping I wouldn’t flush it. I was trying my hardest to spot it in those tall grasses. At that exact time the sun was just coming up behind where I had seen the bittern land - it was blinding but I kept at it. The heavy dew was beautiful but also made the lighting really hard for me to see into but I kept looking. And then all of sudden I saw him stand up! I took all of the following shots of him directly into the sun…
After I snapped this shot I kept walking to my left so that I could get around the end of the pond to try and make my way slowly and quietly closer to him… Bitterns will stand absolutely still for endless amounts of time if they sense movement that alarms them. Thankfully my distance was far enough away that I did not alarm him. He then he started to move his head…
While he was looking away from me I moved a little closer …I was so excited because I really thought he was looking for breakfast and would hopefully put on a show. WOW did he ever!! More than I could have ever hoped for - I hope that you enjoy!!
and then……
He then crouched down low and I lost sight of him - so I waited and waited hoping he would come out of the grasses and head to the edge of the pond…and he did!! He walked out and stood up perfectly straight for a moment before continuing on towards the pond!!
The following is my final shot. After I took this one he settled in tall grasses along the pond and I lost sight of him. I gave it my best shot but I never saw him again that morning. In fact this was my last sighting of a bittern since this particular late August morning.