I have been asked about observing/photographing the Australasian Bittern at Rose Lagoon. There are probably 2 of these birds in there. They could be anywhere the marsh veg is tallish - say a metre or more. Some people seem to have picked one up within a few minutes of arriving at the rest area. My own experience based on 3 visits is that a few seconds of bittern viewing in a 2 or 3 hour period will be more likely. They are obvious enough when one appears by reason of the brownish colour and the slow heron flap - but beware of harriers. Below is a snap from this morning. This was taken from near the SE corner with the rest area in the background. In fact that bird settled within 100m of the rest area and that would have been a better vantage point this morning. You will see that the bird, unusually, is flying quite high. A serious problem for photography at this time of year at almost any time of day is heat shimmer if the bird is just above the veg, so a higher bird is good. The snaps I aired earlier were taken in a slight drizzle (‘dull’ understated the gloom).
