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.