What kind of bird is the bittern?
The big brown bittern prefers a solitary life in swampy marsh regions. If you are here at the right season, you will hear his loud rusty voice cry pumplank, pump again and again. You may glimpse him as he flies low over the water, but chances are you will pot get a close look at him. The stately herons are wading birds and patient fishermen. The bittern is a member of the heron family, though he is not as slim or as colorful as some of his cousins. He is a big, chunky bird and his speckled brown plumage blends invisibly with the cattails and the reedy rushes of his marshy background. All the herons are very fussy about grooming and keep their graceful feathers glossy and spotlessly clean. The bittern is the fuzziest eater of them all. He spends an hour or more preening his plumage after every meal. The body of a big bittern may be almost a yard long and his wings are wide and strong. He flies with his thin legs held straight behind, his neck tucked under his chin and his sharp beak poi
