Confrontational Amwell Bitterns

The images on this gallery were taken on the 26th January 2010. While watching for the Bittern, two birds emerged from each side of a "cut out" in the reedbed. They then spent over 15 mins taking posturing positions and proceded to make aggressive gestures. Opening wings and draping them down against its flanks to inscrease its size, striking at the water in mock feeding behavour, and fluffing up feathers including on the neck and crest to intimidate, were some of the postures and behavour each bird used to force the other bird to retreat. When this didn't work the larger, more dominant bird on the left, then attacked the slightly smaller, paler bird and in less than 2 seconds forced it to retreat and escape through the reeds on the right from where it had early appeared. Neither bird appeared hurt, other than in it's pride, and both birds were seen again later when the defeated bird returned close by to climb in to the reeds to get raedy to roost.