Bittern

It's not supposed to be like this. Really, it isn't. Nature photography takes skill, patience, timing, a little luck thrown in for good measure. And some birds are very hard to see. Honestly. Bitterns are one such bird.
You hear them more than you see them. On occasion, one may fly up if you approach a marsh. Or most likely, you stare for hours at marsh grass, knowing one may be right there, but never see it.
Or you could just go driving up a woods road and see this bird in the road, and think, "what the hell is that".
That's what I did.

 I didn't know that his mate was hiding in the grass at the edge of the pond. As I stepped closer, she took off and so did he. He circled and came right to me.