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Bittern, Orakei Korako
Birds, wetlands: Bittern, Orakei Korako
I've spent fruitless hours in swamps looking for bitterns and this normally shy and elusive bird actually flew up and landed right in front of us while we were eating lunch. It stalked around for a while and then, when it noticed us, it froze and pretended to be a clump of reeds. Botaurus poiciloptilus, or matuku-hurepo, about 70 cm tall.

July 2002