We went out to the no-name pond this evening with tripod and 600mm telephoto lens ready to shoot wildlife. As we got to the pond, a bird flew across the pond in front of us as if on cue. After landing on the right side shore, he spent the entire time walking back and forth as shown here.

We have identified him as a “least American bittern” – it is a “him” – and he is a version of heron.
This guy has a crown that rises up for certain occasions unknown to me (as you can see at left). The raised crown gets relaxed at other times (see picture below). Looks like a different bird.

My zoom lens, set at maximum 600mm, needs a lot of light to get a decent exposure; using the tripod is supposed to help steady the lens and allow slower shutter speeds (and thus, more light). My tripod is designed for portable, back-pack type of transporting and was not steady enough to get the best of images here. Just barely touching the shutter button caused movement. I may have to use my electronic shutter thingy to improve these kinds of shots.

Then, using my Samsung NX mirror-less camera that is a fraction of the cost of my near-professional Nikons, I caught an image of a humming bird (see below)!

This is our humming bird for 2017; we do not have our feeder set up this year but he comes by for the hosta flowers and the orange jewel weed flowers, as shown here.