These birds are probably more common than mosquitoes and I've just never noticed them before (that happens a lot). Most families probably have 5 or 6 hanging around their lawn sprinklers and rarely notice them anymore, but this is my first one and I'm fascinated. What an alien environment it has stopped in. This is a wading/shore bird, especially adapted to marshes and lagoons. It flies over deserts to move between those places and this one chose to land. There are several up-sides. Local predators don't have experience with this bird so it's relatively safe, and it has found a food supply that there is very little to no competition for. I'm sure it has a hard time since it is supposed to wade along a shore and this pond doesn't have one - it has an immediate drop - but feeding ring fishing and boat fishing seem to have taken care of that. I've only seen it catch that one fish, but my sister has watched it eat several. Usually I don't believe my own anthropomorphic statements, ( i.e. The bird looks lonely.), but still, it does. I wouldn't expect it to become lively and start singing if another Bittern were to show up but it seems like it would be more comfortable if one did. When my sister and I were little hippie children floating through Mexico we realized that the farther away we got from America, the more acutely attuned we became to Americans and American things. We could actually smell any Americans within 50 miles and would sometimes follow days old trails just to locate one, or some, and be near them for a while. Even brief contact would infuse us with enough energy and enthusiasm to survive whatever bizarre situation was going to appear next. Anyway, it would seem that even birds might occasionally need the presence of their own species. It does seem to be more at ease with me, but is gone the second it sees the dog.
The sky has been a pale blue for most of the day, like it isn't complete, or maybe has too much stuff in it. There is a lot of moisture in the air and storms have been building all around us. Still a very nice day but I am so in to the absolutely amazing days that I sometimes don't show proper appreciation for the just fine days (I am appreciative, I just don't mention it. Kind of like not sending holiday or birthday cards.)