Reeves Bogs | Brig 6/19--Least Bittern, Bar-tailed Godwit

Because it is still cool, we slept last night with the windows open, so when, at 4:17 this morning, the whip-poor-will in the weeping cherry tree in the backyard began to sing, it woke me up, so I was at Reeves Bogs at 5:20 AM, which meant that by the time I got my 5 miles in around the bogs, it was still early, so when I saw that at Brig a Bar-tailed Godwit, reported yesterday, continued today around Goose Marker 4, I decided I had nothing better to do than drive down there. I hadn't seen the species since 2018 in Australia, and not since 2015 in the United States (at Brig, of course). 

It was my second day in a row at Reeves Normally, I only go there on Sundays since it almost guaranteed that the only person I'll run into is my friend known here as "my informant." While I didn't see him yesterday because our paths didn't cross, he noted my car and called me to tell me that he'd been hearing a Least Bittern since the middle of the week. By the time I made my way to the relatively inaccessible spot, it was late in the morning and the bird had stopped calling. 

Today I walked straight there, or rather directly there, since there is no straight route you can take, stopping and listening at various points in the abandoned bogs. I heard nothing and was feeling a bit discouraged when I reached the spot where I he'd heard the bird. I stood around for what seemed a long time but was really only a few minutes before I heard the "chuckling" sound that Least Bitterns make, out beyond where I stood. And chuckling is a good description, because, heard, more than seen, you get the sense that the bird is laughing at you. There was absolutely no chance of getting any closer to the bird, since, even with muck boots, the water pouring out of a breached bog is too deep and actually too swift to stand in, like mini-rapids in a mini-river. 

I continued my walk around this old cranberry farm--I'd already passed Milton's Reservoir and eventually made my way back there after walking around Bear Hole and along Muddy Road, past the Atlantic White Cedar Restoration Area.  The most amusing sight was the momma Wood Duck with 6 ducklings. 

I went home, got the scope, and was at Brig by 11. Finding the bird was no problem. There were M.obs near Goose Marker 4. Seeing the bird was a problem since it had, with a large dowitcher flock, gone behind the reeds and was hard to see through the screen of phragmites. It didn't help that while all the dowitchers seemed active, the godwit was mostly still with its beak tucked into its feathers. For a moment it shifted position and I was able to see its long bi-colored beak, but mostly identification was based on it much larger size compared to the dowitchers and to a large extent it was an "if you say so" bird. I took a digiscope shot. The best it does is show relative size difference.
My best look was when it upped and flew with about 20 dowitchers. 

I went around the drive half-heartedly--there wasn't really much to see or else I wasn't seeing much. Not feeling like a second trip around but still hoping for a better look at the godwit, I parked at the beginning of the drive and walked up to marker 4. The godwit had returned but was now completely hidden unless you happened to have a cherry picker attached to your car. Many people were waiting for it to emerge. They were mostly photographers. Having seen the bird well enough to say I saw the bird, I, who am not blessed with great (or any) patience, walked back to the car and went home. Two year birds for a June day is pretty good, albeit one with a lousy look and one only softly heard.