American Bittern I think

Canon 40D, 100-400L, Partial metering
1/1250, f/6.3, ISO 640,
I know I am on the wrong sun side but I liked the image.

I believe you have the correct ID. Great to find him in the open!
Main problem here is the harsh back light, increasing the contrast and placing the neck and chest in the shadows.
A lowe angle would have been nicer too.

Nice picture, but I don't think this is a American Bittern. It looks more like an immature Green Heron.

Thanks Raul, When I was photographing it I though it was a Green Heron too, but couldn't figure out the difference between the two in the books. It was trying to catch flying Dragonflys so figure that as immature? :) :)

It is a Green Juvi !!! Could pass for the American !!!

Agree with suggestions and have on question? Any reason for using partial metering? Would try working the head/neck area The image has an appeal with the high contrast !!!

Thanks for the suggestions. Al, I was having trouble with blown out using Spot metering. Just trying different ones. Which would have been better, evaluation?

Nice shot, under these circs I would have used evaluative and probably +1 stop, time permitting check histogram and reduce to -2/3
Jon

Thanks Jon, that makes sense and I guess I should have put a little more thought into this one. :)

Bill,
As close as you were the only thing that would have worked with out blowing the highlights is to use flash.

Reduce the ambient light until there are no head blow outs, and then paint the now under-exposed subject with a little flash.

James

Your photo is definitely a green heron, and I've included a image of one I took on May 26. In my opinion the green heron, being a pretty dark bird, is fairly difficult bird to photograph. I would rule out a back lit shot much sooner than a lighter bird like a snowy or great egret. The only way to get a decent shot is with good lighting, any shadow will quickly ruin any detail for the coloring seems to be more subtle than you would think. Just my 2 cents~onlybill