The past few months have been really slow at my favourite bird reserve and last November I spent the entire afternoon driving up and down without seeing a single thing. There were large numbers of very distant lapwings and also a few curlew, way out of my range. In over three hours, I hadn’t seen a single heron, egret, buzzard or harrier. Likewise, no oystercatchers or redshank and I hadn’t seen a hare in months.
About an hour before closing time, I spotted a kestrel on a post, but knew instinctively it was also too far away for my Sigma 150-600mm lens. However, it was a lovely afternoon and so I parked up, wound down the window and simply watched.
Some time later, a gentleman driving a white van pulled alongside, clearly wanting to say something. I wound down the other window and he said there was a bittern not far from the track and close to the entrance. I had actually passed a few cars in that location when I drove by earlier, but seeing nothing of interest, I had carried on. (It’s not unusual, as birders often spot something with their binoculars – always far too distant for me to photograph, but they can add a tick to their species list).
Thanking the lovely gentleman, I turned my little car round and headed back as quickly as possible. There was a line of about ten cars pulled over to the right of the track, but as I approached, one pulled out and I was able to nip in behind. The bittern was now easy to spot, standing behind some tall grass in the setting sun. It walked a short distance to the left and then returned, to stand upright in the now fading light.
I still can’t quite believe my luck to have been in the right spot at the right time and am thrilled to bits with these photographs.
Steve
22 Jan 2025Well done you and cracking shots 🙂
Zooey
23 Jan 2025Cheers Steve! I think everybody else had seen it over the preceding months, so I was probably due some luck 🙂
Sid
29 Jan 2025WOW <3
A "Tarabuso" is common by the river Ticino (with an awesome natural park with lots of places for birdwatching and fishing) not so far from this big city (about 50 km).
Great, very beautiful shots!
Ciao
Sid
Zooey
29 Jan 2025Wow! I didn’t know that. Bitterns are still extremely rare here, although numbers have increased in recent years 🙂