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I was amazed to find this beautiful little Bittern within plain view quite close, in a spot fairly thinly filled with cattail stalks, right along a well traveled public access to a lake that had more extensive thick marsh vegetation on the other side.

I used to take early morning walks after working night shifts in the hospital, at Lake Alice on the grounds of the University of Florida, and occasionally see something extraordinary - like this incredibly reclusive and elusive bird.

I recently noticed that I had made a note in my Peterson's Field Guide in 1990 with the date and location of these couple photographs, so I am able now to make a proper observation with all the accurate data. I can still picture seeing this unusual bird, and can place it on the map to within 50 meters or so. I do remember there were more cattails along this edge of the lake then than in later years when they were partly dredged out.

These are digital scans of 30+ year old cardboard mounted Kodachrome (or maybe Fugichrome) 35mm color slide (reversal) film.

I saw (and photographed) another Least Bittern nearby a couple years later, under similar circumstances:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/168542272