Jann and I had a very busy day yesterday. I knew bird photography was not in the cards, so I left my DSLR and big lens behind, choosing just to have a small Sony RX10 IV with me.
Jann went into a store that I did not need to visit, and that gave me 10 minutes free. I decided to see if I could find the Least Bittern that had been spotted at the West Lebanon Wetlands. Some folks call this area Cranberry Pond, a charming name for what is basically a swamp behind Walmart. Still, it can have some interesting birds, like a pair of Great Egrets I once photographed there.
During the first 95% of the time I was there, a tiny brown bird made a couple of flights across the area. It seemed too small for a bittern, but I shot first and asked questions later. I got a few very out of focus flight shots.
I had never seen a Least Bittern before and was expecting a bird just a bit smaller than the American Bittern. It turns out it is less than half the height and only about 12% of the weight of the American Bittern.
After one flight, I saw something move near the water’s edge in the reeds far across the “pond”. I got the highly cropped photos below when my phone rang indicating that Jann was ready to be picked up. So I had my first, though brief, encounter with the Least Bittern.
