Bird in photo was a Least Bittern and it didn’t survive. Rehab people said it was likely injured.

I didn’t realize we had Least Bittern around here,

Speedy the duck.

https://people.com/repeat-offender-duck ... y-11734882

We have mallards in the neighborhood. Most often seen flying, but a few weeks ago, I had to stop for a mother and ducklings crossing the road. A week later, I saw "Duck Crossing" signs had been posted on both ends of that stretch of road. So they live here now.
Ducks are such a distinctive shape and flight pattern, they're easy to ID from a distance. I never thought about how fast they fly though!

Wood ducks and black bellied whistling ducks are our year round native breeding ducks. Then mottled ducks are year round residents of the local salt marshes. Mottled Ducks are genetic isolates or offshoots of Black Ducks which themselves diverged from Mallards. Mottled Ducks looks like female mallards.

Chicken fried Wood duck breast is the bomb.

karstopography wrote: ↑Wed May 14, 2025 9:06 pm Bird in photo was a Least Bittern and it didn’t survive. Rehab people said it was likely injured.

I didn’t realize we had Least Bittern around here,

At least you tried.

SpookyShoe wrote: ↑Fri May 16, 2025 8:49 am

karstopography wrote: ↑Wed May 14, 2025 9:06 pm Bird in photo was a Least Bittern and it didn’t survive. Rehab people said it was likely injured.

I didn’t realize we had Least Bittern around here,

At least you tried.

A PhD Zoologist friend of my parents cautioned, after the fact, that the Least Bittern could very easily have had Bird Flu. There was no obvious injury to the bird, but the bird was obviously not well.

karstopography wrote: ↑Fri May 16, 2025 10:12 am

SpookyShoe wrote: ↑Fri May 16, 2025 8:49 am

karstopography wrote: ↑Wed May 14, 2025 9:06 pm Bird in photo was a Least Bittern and it didn’t survive. Rehab people said it was likely injured.

I didn’t realize we had Least Bittern around here,

At least you tried.

A PhD Zoologist friend of my parents cautioned, after the fact, that the Least Bittern could very easily have had Bird Flu. There was no obvious injury to the bird, but the bird was obviously not well.

Public health here has warned against contact with wild birds, on account of the prevalence of the Flu.
IDK about your area.
They do say that many wild birds survive the flu. maybe as with human flu, some fatalities but not all by any means.

Last year when driving through one of the small towns in central Nebraska, I noticed a family of wild turkeys walking through the streets. The Tom turkey led the group in a single file with the mom bringing up the rear with a dozen of so chicks in-between. We had to stop and watch them for 10 minutes.

Those aren't birds they're dinosaurs.