Least Bittern

June 19 2019. Glen Morris, ON. The bird that made me say Wow! (and therefore) My Bird of the Day today was a Least Bittern. It was right there in front of us, posing. A Lifer I’m calling it. No matter that I have a faded memory from decades ago of one sitting quietly at the edge of a reed bed, so long ago that I sometimes wonder if it was real. No matter that I’ve heard Least Bitterns singing (if you can call it that) or that I once found a dead one along a roadside. Today’s Least Bittern was all text book. And to all intents and purposes my first ever. Here it is.

The Least Bittern was the finale to a morning seeking birds of summer: Sandhill Cranes in particular, (we found a group of 15); but also, posing for the camera, Bobolinks, Savannah Sparrows and Eastern Kingbirds. We saw or heard Barn Swallows, Tree Swallows, Warbling and Red-eyed Vireos, Baltimore Orioles and Gray Catbirds too, all sights-and-sounds birds of summer.

The Least Bittern came as we moved to a convenient pull-off spot from where we could scan a wide expanse of bog. We had no sooner stopped than it flew to within a few yards of us and climbed a Phragmites reed stalk to look around. If I could have asked it for a favour I would have requested a few of the foreground reeds be moved aside, but you have to make allowances sometimes. That’s it, My Bird of the Day – Least Bittern.