Immature Black-Crowned Night Heron

[Jeremy Stein]

This little guy showed up among all the (wild) ducks at the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque a couple of weeks ago. He held still for my approach, for a while, but took off before I could get any closer than this. Canon 40D, 100-400 at 260mm, f8 @ 1/400, ISO 400, tripod. The background is an adobe wall reflected from the small waves in the duck pond at the zoo.

[Doug Brown]

Hi Jeremy! Good to see you posting on BPN. Are you still sharing office space with Pat? It's a nice first post here on the Avian forum. Sharpness is good as is composition. My only issue is that the brightness of the boulder draws my eye away from the bird. I'd tone it down some. Look forward to more of your posts!

[Tony Whitehead]

Nice light showing good eye and plumage detail. Agree with Doug re the bright perch. I might raise the black point slightly to give a solid black in the pupil.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Ditto on the perch. Otherwise a fine image with wonderful detail. Love the pose you caught.

[Lori A. Cash]

Nice pose and composition. Agree with the perch comments.