This medium-sized, stocky heron is usually very hard to find, with a body designed to hide in the grasses.  It has a brown back and tan and white colored striping on its neck.  It's heavy bill is yellow below with a thin black stripe above.

Often, the American Bittern is identified by its booming call, sounding something like a heavy object being dropped into a large bucket of water, a oong-a-chuck.  When it knows it has been sighted, the American Bittern will stand still with it's bill pointing straight up into the sky, pretending to be part of the grasses it is usually found in.  Sometimes though, it is out in the open, and it can be comical to watch it think it is well out of sight.  If you do see a bittern in action, you will observe it strutting along with its head pointed towards the water, searching for food, usually fish, crustaceans, frogs, snakes, lizards, or even small mammals. 

The American Bittern winters in the southern United States and all of Mexico.  It breeds from the southern Rockies and throughout the northern United States into Canada as far north as the northern edges of Manitoba and Ontario.  It breeds in freshwater marshes with tall vegetation.  They build their nests in thick vegetation usually emerging from shallow waters.  They lay up to 5 eggs each summer. 

Look for the American Bittern near just about any large expanse of marshy wetland in Crex Meadows and Fish Lake Wildlife Areas.  Early morning and late afternoon will give you the best opportunity for catching this bird hunting along the wetland edges.  Listen for their call from dusk to dawn.