American Bittern

So every morning and night I walk the dog, usually before the sun rises and after the sun sets.
And this one bird has been hanging around the cove quite a bit, but I never seem to see him when there is light out.
So, the other night, I snapped a few pics of him anyway.
I put one up in the Aves gallery because I thought it looks pretty cool.
Unfortunately, you can't really tell what he looks like in the picture.

Here's my attempt at lightening a pic so that you can see what a strange looking little guy he is: