Egrets

[John Dalton]

I was set up with camera pointed to the west waiting for the flyby of thousands of ibises against the setting sun on the way to their night time roosts.
I had witnessed that fascinating flyby for the first time several days before so I returned on this day and was ready and waiting.
Sunset was great with lots of yellow and orange and red.
About 10 minutes after sunset, I saw this group of egrets flying close and low and fired away into the fortune of dim fading light.

December 2nd, 2017 5:35pm
Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge
Canon 80D, Canon 100-400 II and Canon 1.4x III.
Mounted on a big ol' heavy Bogen #3035 tripod with Opteka GH1 gimbal head.
(This was the 1st day that I had ever used a tripod for bird photography. Sure makes panning cleaner and easier.)
f/8
1/5 second
ISO 200

I removed a pair of feet protruding into the frame edge on right side middle.
Cropped to 16/9 aspect ratio.
Some noise removal.
Slight increase in contrast.

I just joined birdphotographers.net this week and I'm anxious to get started.
This is my first photo submitted.
Will be honored to receive any and all comments.

Thanks, John.