WATCHING SOME LEAST BITTERNS GROW UP IN THE KAWARTHAS

WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER DAVE ELLIS DOCUMENTS A GROWING FAMILY OF LEAST BITTERNS

I had been photographing some least bitterns since they first arrived in the spring. When they arrive here in the Kawarths they are ready to begin their mating and nesting season. That makes it one of the best times to photograph them.

Least bitterns are very secretive little herons that stay hidden deep in the bulrushes in swamps and marshes most of the time, however when they are in mating season, they are out looking to meet up with a mate, so they are a little less elusive.

I had followed a few pairs of them in a couple of different locations. I was pretty sure I knew where they were nesting, and I thought this might be the year that I managed to photograph the young chicks on the nest. The nests are very well hidden in the grasses and bulrushes. As I began to actively search for the nest though, I realized that it was going to be impossible to get close enough to the nest to photograph them without running the risk of disturbing their environment and possibly causing them to abandon the nest. No photograph was worth doing that, so I abandoned my search.

I would have to wait until the young ones left the nest to photograph them. It seemed to take forever. I checked several locations many times but no little bitterns. Then finally one day I thought I could see a fuzzy head moving around a few feet into the bulrushes. Was it a young one?It took a couple of hours of quietly waiting, but finally the young bittern came more out into the open, still not a clear shot, but it was getting braver.

It was the cutest thing, with the fuzzy baby fluff still covering its head and a good part of its back. It was waiting for its father to bring some food. When the father did come, all shyness was forgotten.

The young bittern came out and grabbed whatever the father had brought. It happened so fast I couldn't even get a good photo. Then there was more waiting.

Eventually though the young bittern came right out into the open and started to fish for itself. That caused a problem. Apparently the young bittern had trespassed into another adult's territory and the adult was quick to let it know that it was not allowed to fish there.

The young bittern was surprisingly bold and rebuffed the adults scolding, but soon thought better of it and retreated back to its nest area.

Then the magic happened. All four young bitterns came out at once, four little fuzzy headed baby bitterns. All of the waiting was worth it to see this. Over the next few weeks it was marvellous to watch them develop. They quickly learned to navigate the swamp and to catch fish and frogs and bugs of all kinds. It was incredible to watch one dart its neck out to full extension to grab a dragonfly out of mid air.

All too soon the bulrushes began to turn a little brown and the temperatures started to decrease and one knew that fall and its southern migration was on its way. Now most of the marsh birds have headed south to their winter habitats and we are left to look forward to the awesome winter birds that come to live with us for the cold season. please email Dave at wildlife@eastlink.ca. To see more of his photographs, visit flickr.com/photos/ ourlocalwildlife.