This American Bittern was uncharacteristically exposed when I first saw it, and it seemed a bit embarrassed to be caught in the open. It froze for a few minutes, which made my camera very happy, then began to creep toward cover.
After a few steps, it paused behind a thin screen of vegetation and practically disappeared. If I hadn’t seen it in the open first, I never would have seen it at all.
The bittern reminded me how hard it is to see the world. Every day I encounter remarkable, beautiful things, and all too often I fail to see them.
Rae Spencer 
Oh Rae, how true. You make me see so many things I would have missed.
Gorgeous shots! You must have been thrilled.
I was! 🙂
They really are masters of camouflage, aren’t they? I’ve only seen two out the open, and neither was close enough for this kind of photo (one was standing in the middle of a grassy field for some bizarre reason). Congrats on finding one that was cooperative – for at least a little while!
Very interesting! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for this privileged peek at an extraordinary bird.