ANIMALIA

Nice =)

I have seen a few American Bittern during our years in the USA. They are closely related but different enough. Collins Guide for Europe has a great side by side rendering on a plate as American Bittern is an accidental visitor to europe. The european bird is somewhat bigger and stockier, with a more massive bill that got no black on the upper mandible, a fatter but shorter black mustache, a back cap but no light eye stripe. Over all, if the bird would be a crossover SUV, we got the basic handyman model and you got the spiffy paris-dakar edition with less room in the trunk but distinctive ralley stripes and accented fender. ;o)

Bittern are industrious critters often taking very smal prey they then of course need lots of, tiny water critters that use the barely submerged edge of the Bullrush cover for shelter. I observed this one hunt and subsequently eat with a bit of discrete throat muscle movement several times, but never saw what it was, not even with the help of the spotting scope.
According to Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Ghunna they appear more into sipping a nice peaty dram than eating, but then he was not a birdwatcher but an irish poet with a certain preferance himself, so I daubt our favorite bittern observation spot is really containing a secret whisky spring -- although my husband sometimes jokes about that. ;o)

Yep., phantastic camo artists. This winter we found one near the same place but light was less optimal. My husband put his system camera with adapter to the spotting scope, and then tried a cell phone app showing what's supposed to be in the view finder a bit bigger and better contrasted. Could not find the bird. Me looking with the binocs for the bird to aid him, also proved unable to find it. So we put the occular back, and no, the bird had not gone away, it just sat there and enjoyed to watch us try to get a picture in vain....