Unless you have a Little Bittern staked, the best way to get one is through the
call. They have a distinctive repeated-in-a-series croak. Go to the Cumbungi or
suitable thick reeds or sedge, optimum time towards or at twilight, with a mate
as determined or desperate as you are. When the two of you line up the call,
take it in turns to walk loudly through the cumbungi while the mate waits up a
tree or in another survey spot for the bird to flush and land again. Keep this
up till you are satisfied.
This works anywhere that you have free access to the vegetation.
Little Bitterns are birdwatchers' birds. The way to get them, and a whole lot
of other skulkers (and frogs and reptiles), is to frequent reedy swamps. But
you increase your chances of getting mosquito-borne diseases. But only the bold
deserve the fair; and workers deserve the big rewards.
If you have limited time and/or locality, they are a bird to follow up through
sightings reported on this web. Since they don't appear much, you can see why I
regard them as birdwatchers' birds. That the sightings are often in cities
indicates that they are likely to be in a lot of areas less frequented by
birdwatchers.
If you really have to get the bird, I know/knew two birders who are/were dab
hands at finding them. Phil Maher is the one who is still alive. The other one
took a remarkable set of notes and photos when he found them nesting on a small
pond on his dairy farm. Those records, with all his others, went for
record-keeping to a RAOU man.
Bill Watson.
Albury/Eskdale
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