[Laura Erickson, Science Editor, Cornell Lab of Ornithology] I think my favorite moment of hearing a bittern was one May morning before the first light, I picked out that soft, deep call and there was the bittern right in the very middle of this little stand of cattails. Bitterns make that cool sound by inflating their esophagus, that apparently gives them the tide of air that they need to make that territorial call. It was magical because I never expected to find one there.