View allAll Photos Tagged bittern
FIELD MARKS-mottled brown upperparts and brownish neck streaks.contrasting dark flight feathers are conspicuos in flight;note also that wings are longer, narrower, and more pointed, not rounded as in night- heron,-juvenile lacks neck patches. when alarmed,freezes with bill pointing up,or flushes with rapid wingbeats.
Circle B Bar Reserve, Polk County, FL.
On Marsh Rabbit Run. Easy to find several bittern on the edge of Marsh Rabbit Run.
Fall & Winter are great times to see these American Bitterns.
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This bird, a member of a normally furtive species, provided many people excellent observation opportunities at Garret Mountain Park in Woodland Park, NJ. Note the complexity of its plumage: the different coloration, stripings and patterns.
Okay - so this wasn't my camera or lens. Michele, my wife, decided she needed a better camera for her Birthday tomorrow so we got her a Canon 50D with an 18-200 lens over the weekend. We had to stop at Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge to try it out.
I DID take these photos while test driving her camera. I am impressed.
First proper go at Bitterns. There were 2 showing well during the day. One mainly in the reeds and this one at the end of the day came quite close. Very shady area and high ISO . Would have liked some more light but I made the best of what we had. Mere sands wood 24/02/12
American Bittern hunting for prey, which includes pretty much anything it can find that moves, and can be subdued and eaten. Las Gallinas, Pond #1 near the start.
American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) - Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida
Yet another V3B (Visually Boring Brown Bird), though an exciting one for most birders who have likely walked by dozens of these guys w/o ever knowing they were there. :{(
Which reminds me of one I spotted five feet from the boardwalk at The Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (25 miles west of NYC) that 100 or more people walked by w/o seeing on their way to the "Sportsman's Blind"
(it was a Sunday with many NYC birders out for a day at the swamp) .
Which brings to mind rule number one of Dah Basics of Nature Photography* which is:
Never be in a hurry to get somewhere
(e.g. pay attention to what's going on around you on your way to where you're going)
*Scroll to the bottom of my profile page to see "Dah Basics".