I  thought I’d share some photos that I took last Thursday of the famous 
Rocky  River Bittern.  This bird was  amazingly cooperative. It seemed 
completely oblivious to me and the other  birders/photogaphers who were present, 
and at times was as close as twenty feet  from us. 
I  observed a few interesting behaviors that I had never seen before in any 
bird.  One is that the bird swayed its neck from side to side just before 
capturing its  prey. The other is that it wiped its long, skinny pink tongue 
on both sides of  its bill after it swallowed its food (almost like it was “ 
licking its chops”).  Perhaps this is to clean its bill. I was able to 
capture this odd behavior in  the first photo. 
Thanks to everyone who kept the list updated on the status of this  bird. 
Getting this prolonged look into the secret life of Bitterns was certainly  
one of the most enjoyable bird photography experiences I’ve ever  had! 
My photos can be seen on my Flickr site:  
http://www.flickr.com/photos/darlenefriedman/ 
Darlene Friedman 
Novi, MI

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