Since I published the article below, I have received some feedback that suggests the white feathers may be fairly common variations and play a part in courtship.  Here are two items from an email from a friend and expert ornithologist:

"A conservative hypothesis would be that the bird you photographed is within the range of normal variation for the species."   

"In an authoritative book “The Herons Handbook”, published in 1984 by Harper & Roe, New York, James Hancock and James Kushlan in a summary statement about American Bittern wrote on page 268 “A peculiar feature of this, as of other bitterns, is a tuft of white feathers on the side of the upper breast, normally concealed by the scapulars and the ‘shoulder’ or carpal joint of the closed wing. It is highly conspicuous when fanned out in display.”

Jim Block

Friday morning I photographed a very cooperative leucistic American Bittern.  I think its abnormal coloring (or lack of it) made it a strikingly beautiful bird. You can see photos and read about this encounter and a similar (or the same?) bird crossing the road in the same spot 8 years earlier here:  http://www.jimblockphoto.com/2016/05/leucistic-bittern/ 

Jim Block

Etna, NH

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