Last year I made three trips to see the quite rare Least Bitterns at the West Lebanon Wetlands, but did not get any photos I really liked. But I did get an amazingly beautiful Green Heron up very close. Yesterday I needed to make a trip to Home Depot, so afterwards I decided to head behind Price Chopper to see if I would have better luck this year. I did.
I arrived around 9:40 and repeatedly scanned the pond. About the only thing I saw was a bit of movement of the reeds below and to my right. There was very little wind, so I thought there might be a Least Bittern moving around, but I certainly had no hope of seeing it in the dense reeds. I waited patiently.
Eighteen minutes after I arrived, a bittern exploded from those reeds and flew across the pond. I fired away and was pleased that I got some usable photos of its flight.
The Least Bittern perched briefly far across the pond, but in a good position to view.
Less than a minute after it landed, it launched and disappeared from sight into the reeds.
I kept watching the area where it flew to. Suddenly a bittern flew from that general area across the pond to the right. I shot wildly as it flew but did not get any usable photos. I was pretty sure this was a second bittern, so I kept watching for motion where I figured the first one might still be.
Ten minutes after it vanished, the first bittern reappeared.
Over the next fifteen minutes I watched movement in the reeds as the bittern slowly worked its way closer and closer to my position.
This was already much much better than in 2019.
I watched the bittern catch a fish, but unfortunately it moved a bit back into the reeds to swallow it.
From time to time the bittern moved into excellent positions for viewing.
Two female Common Mergansers flew in to join the party.
They only stayed for a minute or two, but one still had time to try to hog the spotlight in front of the bitten.
Five minutes later the bittern launched for a short flight.
It landed on a snag, one of the few remaining in the pond, and climbed it.
It reached to the top and briefly surveyed the pond before flying toward another pond to the east that is totally out of view. Google maps labels that pond Cranberry Pond.
About an hour after I arrived, I departed. It was tempting to stay longer, but Jann was waiting at home, and we had many things to do.
Be sure you see the heron photos from last year. A Green Heron put on a great show.
If you would like email notifications of new blog posts, you can sign up in the upper right hand corner. It is easy to unsubscribe if you ever want to.
If you would like to check out recent blogs you can click BLOG above or just CLICK HERE.