But sadly I was 50 metres away across the water and unable to move much closer. In fact, even at such distance the bird would have darted back into cover in a flash at any sudden or great movement.
Talking of movement, the clumsiness of the bird's passage jumping and jerking across the base of the scleria was surprising. All my previous sightings suggested a life of stealthy, silent stalking, not clumsy and surely noisy leaping from foothold to foothold. My toehold on knowledge grows ever tinier!
If it finds out you posted the pics on the Internet it may never co-operate with you again. As they say, once bittern twice shy.
ReplyDeleteGreat catch!
Great behaviour shots. Buttonquails and bitterns - what a pair!
ReplyDeleteHi Tony
ReplyDeleteYou say: "My toehold on knowledge grows ever tinier!"
On the contrary, your knowledge increases - as does ours.
lovely image especially #1.
Cheers
Denis
Great photos. I'm glad the bird stood still where you could see and photograph it - and even better that you shared with us all!
ReplyDeleteHi Alan: But as they say: Bittern expects every man to do his shooty.
ReplyDeleteHi Boobook: Now all we need is for some Grass Owls to turn up.
Hi Denis: Every crumb of info I gain pushes another out, I fear.
Hi Mick: Sharing is a lot of the fun, isn't it?
Those pictures are excellent! But I can't think of any puns to match the ones in the comments. (Which is probably for the best.)
ReplyDeleteI plead self-defence!
ReplyDeleteI am jealous! What a special moment, congratulations. There are few things better in like than when a hard to see bird poses for you.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sebastian. Hope next one is a bit closer.
ReplyDelete