All winter an American Bitter frolicked alongside a small, grassy creek on the Billy Frank Jr Nationwide Wildlife Refuge. Regardless of a mess of eBird studies, we solely discovered the chicken twice, most lately on 24 February 2022. Along with being cryptically coloured, bitterns typically freeze when approached. We stood on a marsh overlook. Two birders exclaimed, “There’s a bittern!” Erika and I ran over and there in plain sight, calmly strolled a bittern.
At one level the bittern stopped, and leaned over to look at one thing within the water. The chicken, nonetheless, made no strike. Bitterns patiently await passing prey. The birds largely hunt at daybreak or nightfall. Virtually something will do—bugs, amphibians, crayfish, small fish or small mammals (Lowther et al. 2020).
