At Lake Conestee Nature Preserve, a bittern is usually a fairly rare sighting; they hide in the dry weeds, well-camouflaged.

Barry is different.

The first time I saw Barry, late in 2021, he was hiding under the boardwalk that lead to the West Bay observation deck. As I walked across, I startled him. He crashed into one of the supporting posts and appeared dazed for a moment or two, giving me a very interesting photograph opportunity. He seemed to recover okay. Maybe that crash caused him to be less secretive.

Barry the Bittern spends a lot of time out in the open now.

I thought I had seen some movement in those tall grassy weeds. Sure enough, out popped Barry. Here is a three minute video of the photos I took of Barry that morning, with some commentary from me.