By Rick Baetsen I have been interested in, or almost fascinated by the American Bittern for years. I grew up in the area of Michigan's Saginaw Bay. I spent a great deal of time in the large marshes. The Fish Point State Game Area is a good area for wildlife, but from early spring until the last of the autumn migration, these wetlands hold abundant waterfowl and marsh birds. I often had the chance to hear the American Bittern's strange call, during trips made to the marshes in search of waterfowl. I heard the bird often, but sightings of the bird were rare and these often were only of a glimpse of a distant bird in flight. I had heard of the bird's camouflage plumage and its concealment posture and even stories of the bird swaying back and forth like that of the surrounding vegetation in the winds. My first "up close" view of this bird came while I was working for a natural resource agency, out of Newberry in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Many of my evenings were spent exploring new areas of the varied habitats of Luce County. One of my favorite areas was that of the Natalie State Forest Campground and the surrounding Lake Superior State Forest. The campground was located on the Dollarville Flooding, which is an impoundment of the Tahquamenon River. I hiked on the trails and two-tracks, many of which cut through or along the edge of bogs and swamps. This good view came while I was walking along the railroad tracks which runs through an area of a large bog in the area. I heard off in a distance the familiar call of the American Bittern. I approached very slowly and was able to locate it. It had ceased calling, and it had assumed the concealment posture. I tried to keep an eye on the bird, as I slowly put a small zoom lens and tripod on my camera. I then took my first images of this bird. The bird never moved during the several minutes that I was in its presence. As I continued my walk down the tracks, the bird resumed calling, as the sun was setting over the Dollarville Flooding. My work in the fisheries management field put me in many wetland areas where I often heard the birds calling throughout the east-central upper peninsula of Michigan. A long-term study of the Northern Saw-whet Owl in northern Michigan has put the other researchers and myself in some really good American Bittern habitat. We very often hear and see the birds along the survey routes. The owl study site and route that is located on the Seney National Wildlife Refuge is one of the best locations to see the bird in northern Michigan. The pool edges and associated marshes provide excellent breeding habitat for this bird. The marshes of Saginaw Bay still hold these birds, but not in anywhere near the numbers that were there in the 1960's. The American Bittern's numbers have declined in many areas throughout Michigan. In Michigan the bird has received the status of a "Special Concern Species," due to declines in bird numbers over the past several decades. The marshes and wetland areas around Munuscong Bay in Chippewa County, the lower reaches of the Tahquamenon River in Luce County are also good locations for this bird. The literature indicates that the birds prefer the large marshes, but many of the birds I have encountered have been in small wetland areas, that would also be considered to be remote from developed areas. A rather unique experience and the one that I was able to take the image that is used to illustrate this article came while on a trip to northern Minnesota. Bonnie Heuvelhorst, my spouse, and I were driving along a state highway, near Thief River Falls. We had been driving through an area where the surrounding habitat had been burned with controlled management practices. We noticed something standing on the paved portion of the road and it turned out to be an American Bittern. We stopped and got out with a camera and tripod. The first images that I took of the bird had pavement and a yellow line as background. The bird walked off the pavement and down into a drainage ditch that had not burned due to the water levels. I watched from the road edge as it carefully selected a location in the cattails and then it very quickly assumed the concealment posture. As I made some adjustments I took my eye off the bird. When I looked back to focus on the bird, I found that it had seemed to have disappeared. We wondered if it had slipped away, or was its concealment so good that I would really have to search to find it again. Everything in my view looked like that of last years faded cattails. Then all of a sudden I locked onto the bird's eyes, which also seemed to be focussed on me. I started to look down the bird and could see that its striated feather pattern blended in perfectly with that of the old and faded cattails. I took a number of images and I use one of these images in a slide presentation. I often have to use a laser pointer to locate the bird for those that have the same difficulty in locating the bird in the image as I did in the field. The American Bittern is a seasonal resident of Michigan. They arrive back to the wetland and marshes in early spring and remain until their southern migration in mid-autumn. The birds winter in the southern States and Mexico. The males return first to set up a territory and begin their unique vocalizations in an attempt to attract a female. The bird shortens its neck, lowers its abdomen and booms vocally in a deep sound. The sound has been described as sounding like "oong-ka-choonk---oong-ka-choonk---oong-ka-choonk." It is repeated many times and is most often heard in the early mornings or late evenings, but the bittern will call throughout the day. Due to its unique call, another name given to the bird is that of "swamp pumper." The bird will perform visual and aerial displays during the courtship period. It is thought that the male bird selects the nest site. The bird's nest is constructed in tall vegetation, on or near the water edge of the marsh or wetland. It is built above the water level on a platform of sedges, reeds and cattails. It is believed that there are different paths for entrance and exit to the nest. The female for about four weeks incubates the olive-brown colored eggs (2-7). The female rears the young at the nest site for another two weeks after hatch. (Ehrlich, 1988). The bird has a varied diet that includes insects, crayfish, snakes, frogs and fish. This well camouflaged bird has an overall streaked or striated appearance. It is a good-sized bird of a stocky build, that averages 25-32" in height and have a wingspan of up to 48." It has some white markings under the beak and shows some black markings on the neck. In flight, the bird shows black on the outer wings. The American Bittern is a special bird of our wetland habitats and its presence or absence from a marsh or bog is most likely a good indicator of the quality and quantity of the habitat. By maintaining undeveloped areas of marshes, bogs, sedge meadows, we will continue to have the American Bittern as an important part of our natural heritage. Information on the American Bittern nest, and nesting biology is from: The Birder's Handbook-A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. Paul R. Ehrlich, David S. Dobkin, and Darryl Wheye. 1988. Simon and Schuster, New York. USA. This book is an excellent resource guide for birders. All images & text in this Northern Michigan Birding Bird Profile are owned by Rick Baetsen. Rick specializes in nature photography and his photographs can be purchased online at Rick Baetsen Wildlife & Nature Photography