I spent a few hours this morning around Milford Mill Park (Baltimore 
Co), and to my amazement, had great looks at an American Bittern. I 
saw it only because it flew up from the stream and landed about 20 
feet up in a tree around 10 AM. The only thing somewhat suitable about 
the habitat is the stream. So I imagine the Bittern is just passing 
through. On the other hand, it was still in exactly the same spot an 
hour later. Then I returned four hours later for a quick look and it 
was STILL there. It was doing the classic bill-in-the-air routine. 
What an exciting life!

In case you want to go for a very long shot, the Bittern was about 1/4 
mile down the streamside trail from the parking lot across the stream 
from where there is a large 8-foot long cleanly-sawn tree trunk on the 
ground a little ahead on the right. (If you go to where the large 
rocks are on the left, you've gone about 100 feet too far.) It was 
about 20 feet up in a medium-sized tree with gnarly branches and 
slight leaves coming out in the area where the Bittern was perched. A 
few choice angles give you a virtually unobstructed view. I drew some 
X's in the mud, but they probably are about to be washed away by the 
storm that's about to break out any minute now.

Other than that, there was a fair amount of activity, especially by 
Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Gnatcatchers, but very few warbler species: 
about 10 Myrtle Warblers, 2 Palms (yellow), a Parula, and a B&W. Also, 
a Blue-headed Vireo, and I heard my first of-the-season House Wren and 
White-eyed Vireo.

Steve Sanford
Randallstown MD (Baltimore County)
scartanATverizonDOTnet