Nankeen Night Heron

At long last we have had some rain here which is maybe why I came across 4 of these birds yesterday in a region I've never seen them in before. Usually nocturnal, but maybe the rain had flushed out some bugs and frogs to temp them out into the daylight, although I didn't see them hunting at all, just sitting on a dead tree ?

Canon 7D + 500 f4....f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 320 , no flash, tripod mounted, manual exposure.....Very overcast day with intermittent rain......added canvas top and bottom, cloned out three sticks below the bird and smoothed to minimise the composition ?.......selective sharpen.

Great to find one in the open, Phil. Great image, love the pose and the side light brings out some nice details.

not much to say but great details with a nice smooth and soft (not in as not sharp) look

I might take some off the top and bottom (right below the fork)

I love the silky smooth plumage you brought out here, with good details too. Good comp, light, perch.

Very nice colours and light in this image. I do like the confortable look of the bird and the eye contact.

Lovely pose, details and colors. Comp looks good to me. I would sharpen the eye area a bit more.

Hi Phil, great sighting and capture here, and love the way he is looking down the line of the perch. Great view of the feet and toes.

I love how the bird matches the perch! Great detail, IQ and pose -- striking image!

Great light, details and comp.

Phil:
Excellent image.Love the way bird pops up against BG. Very nicely composed.Great lights,colors and details.

Regards,
Satish.

Very nice Phil. Love the soft plumage on this guy. Techs look great as dose the BG. He has a real ominous stare. Well done

nice capture,great light and pose,nice perch.

Thanks for looking, not often these birds sit nicely fo0r the camera and took quite a lot of images while the moment was hot...so to speak

Great pose and setting you have here.