On the Trail of the Stealth Birds of Our Wetlands
With its cunning camouflage and some mighty morphing, a bittern can be one tough bird to find and a tough customer to boot
Bitterns are elusive, all but invisible birds that inhabit the marshlands of North America. Members of the heron family, they love the darkness, and they are aggressive defenders of their nests. Over a period of several years William Burt has stalked the wetlands of several states in order to photograph these secretive creatures. Eventually he managed to photograph both species, the least bittern and the American bittern, and in this article he tells the story of his search.