Least Bittern with bonus frog Ballona Freshwater Marsh 110

            Least Bittern

The crabby old lady (the tour guide) explained that the Freshwater Marsh had no frogs.  W9 and I exchanged a look.  The sounds we had been hearing MUST be bitterns! Well, after a few years of birding under our belts, we now know that not only are there frogs here, they are plentiful and good eats for the herons and egrets.

The American Bittern has the unk-ah-chunk plumbing-sounding call.  The Least Bittern sounds like some goofball hiding in the bushes trying to sound mysterious.  There is a quality to the coo-coo coooooo call that sounds like a human falsetto.  OK.  Forget the call.

The Least Bittern is very small, hence the “least” and it might also be the “least” seen.

An enthusiastic birder told us about the bittern sighting and  how we could “get up close and personal.”  
We have learned that it is better to have realistic expectations.  

We could hear a kingfisher but haven’t, in the past, been close enough or had a camera with me while kayaking to get a good photo. Some flickr friends take their gear on kayaks and canoes routinely….
W9 spotted a LEBI here (July 7 ,2015) so our priority was the kingfisher, if possible.  

As the friendly birder went on and on, it was evident that we weren’t going to race over to the reported LEBI location and pass up a potential sighting of a kingfisher ♀.

We take a roll or two of the kingfisher make eye contact and cautiously move on to “Sparky’s,” i.e., the Bittern’s spot.

I had “gifted” a small camp stool to W9 and she was pleased as punch with it.  We sat and waited.  After 15 minutes, I repeated my usual wish that we had an old, beat-up discarded sofa to sit on.  It helps pass the time and W9 never gets tired of that line.
Just then we see a little movement in the reeds.   The powers that be have hacked back all the reeds, drastically changing the look of the place and vastly reducing the possible hiding places for the denizens of the marsh.  Marsh-ettes?  Marsh-fellows?  Marsh monkeys.   : )

Sparky works his tiny hairdo up and down whilst he creeped gracefully through a tiny patch the reed hackers missed.  We are enthralled.  The birder is correct.  We are as up close and personal as you can get to the itteh bitteh bittern.
Our light was changing.  The coastal marine layer clouds were moving in then receding a bit.  We were snapping away  all the while being teased by the kingfisher’s robust machine gun calls.  After a while we were thinking “go away, bittern!”

 Another oft repeated joke.  We heard one of Lou’s fans say, “Go away, goldfinch” hoping a better bird would replace him.  We’ve adopted the “go away!” saying. 

We crept off to try for the kingfisher, again.  The female kingfisher soon departed so we crept back to watch Sparky doing his last rounds in the vicinity of his reed patch.  Then, off he flew to an area with trees and thick brush.
I hope he had a full crop of bugs and tadpoles or whatever marsh delicacy he fancied.

This could be one of my best shots ever of the Least Bittern.

Taken in: United States / California / Los Angeles / LAX (show map)

Taken on: September 18, 2016

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Least Bittern

Bird watching

Ballona

Ballona Freshwater Marsh

southern california birds

80D

canon 80 D

canon

Camaraderie

friendship

wesen

marsh monkey

Marsh

Ixobrychus exilis

lightroom

pekabo90401

Blongios minute

Petit Blongios

Petit Butor

Ardeola

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tiny bird

frog

bonus frog

did you find the frog?

Vogel

100-400

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note inside the photo. run the cursor over the frog

Frosch

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Fun sized heron « less

Sets appears in: • TLDR • Ballona Wetlands more » • Bird watching « less

Groups appears in: • in explore

Camera: Canon EOS 80D, f/8.0, 1/1000 sec, 400mm, ISO 800 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 80D
Lens:	EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/1000)
Focal Length:	400mm
ISO:	800
Exposure Bias:	+1/3 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.7 (Windows)
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