Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 09:29:37 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Paul Woodward Subject: Re: bittern feeding MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Rick, From your description I am not exactly sure where you saw the biitern. I assume it was in the large impoundment among the smartweed mats. If so the water there is not very deep and although you can't see it from the dike there is usually a thick mat of submerged aquatic vegetation throughout that whole area, so I suspect your bittern was walking on this mat and using its wings to help maintain its position. I once saw a Great Blue Heron jump off a duck box here into the water so half the bird was underwater. I assume it saw a fish and went after it. Paul Woodward Fairfax City, VA 22032 grackling@worldnet.att.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================