The first time I saw a Least Bittern was on Padre Island, Texas. It was a brief glimpse, the bird jumping from one clump of reeds to another. The second time was strange: the bird was high up in a tree in Prospect Park.
Third time is a charm of a cliche, but what a sighting! 
Note those long toes. The bird, a juvenile (no dark crown), stilt-walked above the water by grabbing nearby foliage. They don’t have to wade like other herons.
This was up at Montezuma NWR, where a fellow bird-dog called me back twice to make sure I spotted the bird, since it kept scooting back into the reeds.
The binomial Ixobrychus exilis can be broken down nicely: the genus name might be translated as “reed boomer” and exilis simply means small. 
A Green Heron, a larger bird than the Least, seen a few minutes earlier nearby.
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In New York? Today is the last weekday you can register to vote for the vital primaries held on September 13th.
Backyard and Beyond 
Reblogged this on Wolf's Birding and Bonsai Blog.