American Bittern

October 03, 2012

American Bittern
Viera Wetlands

It's not hard to see why American Bitterns are so hard to find. They're large herons, but they seem to be perfectly camouflaged in the grasses, bulrushes and cattails in which they love to hide. And they can remain so still that you can almost look right at them and not see them. Often when photographing wildlife I hope for separation between my subject and background so that I can show the subject against a clean, blurry background. But with American Bitterns, I often like to go the other way. It seems to me that photographs of bitterns are more intepretive if they can show just how well they can hide.