Thanks for this exciting news, Ken! eBird contains a report from Barb Matthews from Sapsucker Woods on Sunday morning, with definitive photos of an adult female Least Bittern: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S46295105. This is the fifth or sixth individual Least Bittern that I've known about in Sapsucker Woods over the years, and definitely the only one I've heard about this year (or indeed this past decade).
I went looking for the bittern today, but didn't find it. My consolation prize was a nice long view of a mother WOOD DUCK and seven ducklings. The babies still appeared quite small and fuzzy, but did have surprisingly long and well-developed tail feathers. Mark Chao PS. Barb, are you on this list? Congratulations on a tremendous find! -----Original Message----- From: bounce-122617078-3493...@list.cornell.edu < bounce-122617078-3493...@list.cornell.edu> On Behalf Of Ken Haas Sent: Monday, June 04, 2018 2:39 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L <cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu> Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Least Bittern at SSW Hi All, During my beginner bird walk at Sapsucker Woods yesterday morning, I met a woman on the trail who showed me her point and shoot camera and asked me what bird she took a photo of just minutes earlier. It looked to me like a Least Bittern and asked her where she saw it. My group agreed to look for this unusual bird. She took us back to the first pond after coming over the boardwalk from the parking lot, just before one reaches the Owens Platform. She said it was in the reeds and cattails to the right side of the pond. All of us looked for several minutes but didn’t see anything. I decided to slowly sneak up the grassy path to the right of the pond hoping to find it. It flew out of the cattails and deeper into the back of the pond and out of sight. But we all got a look at it. After comparing it to everything else I thought it could be (imm. Green Heron, for example) and looking again at her picture, I can only come to the conclusion of a Least Bittern. Has anyone else been seeing one over there? Ken Haas -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
