Bittern

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This very obliging  bird was occupying a very small reedbed outside the Zeiss hide at Slimbridge WWT centre in early 2007. It was so close, all these images are full frame except "-08" and taken from the hide, many without the 1.4x extender on the 600m lens.

As time has gone on, this bird has become increasingly popular it seems to me, and I spent three days there in the last full week of January. How the noise of firing shutters didn't spook the bird is to be wondered, and lots of people have seen it who had never seen a bittern before, which is just great. Bird watchers are best on the top floor of the hide, where the bird is more easily seen, and photographers on the lower floor, where the angle is somewhat better. The bird seems to be much less active when the wind blows, and / or when it rains, but on days with light winds and some sunshine it can be quite active, giving everybody good views.

These bittern in flight shots below were taken at Marazion RSPB reserve in mid January 2010, when there were at least 2 and possibly 4 of these birds present. On the day I was there, there were certainly two, and possibly 3 that showed.

 

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The pictures below are not quite good enough, lacking in shutter speed, but do illustrate a nice bit of behaviour, as the bird emerges from the reedbed to take off.

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