A very cooperative American Bittern was in the fenced in area of the Tupelo Meadow in Central Park’s Ramble today.  For the most part it perched on a rock and stayed still.  But for about ten minutes, after a Cooper’s Hawk flew into the Tupelo Tree the American Bittern took a defensive posture, and for a brief time looked radically different almost doubling in size.  The Cooper’s Hawk soon forgot about the Bittern and after about twenty minutes caught a Northern Flicker.