My husband and I saw the first bittern I have seen in decades this morning at Huffman MetroPark (off of SR 40 - just past the exit to WPAFB if you are coming from Dayton and heading east.) It was best seen from the trail that hugs the lake, going from the first parking lot by the shelter to the second parking lot with concrete picnic tables at the other end ot the lake - closer to the picnic table area than the shelter. I got pretty close to it from that path. It could also be seen from the other side of the lake but a scope would be needed to see it well from that area. And yes - I am 90% sure it was an American bittern. It was too big and too boldly striped to be a least and did not look like a juvenile green herons, three of which I saw about a week ago. did not look anything like a juvenile night heron either. Technically it was a life bird for me although I saw bitterns fairly often when I was a child and my mother was the family "birdwatcher". They
 were common in our area then, but when I started keeping a list I was not sure which bittern we were seeing and my mother had already passed on and could not be asked.

Other birds seen at Huffman MetroPark: blue jay, eastern wood-pewee, many great-blue herons and great egrets, double-crested cormorants, red-bellied woodpeckers, 1 Canada goose, 1 solitary sandpiper - not too far from where the bittern was seen, an adult green heron, a fishing osprey, and 1 ruby-throated hummingbird.

Carolina wrens, a kingfisher, and white-breasted nuthatches were heard.

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