Rock Dove

I was sitting at the edge of a pond in Cape May Point SP, waiting for waterfowl to fly in, when I saw some movement to my right. I swiveled to catch this Rock Dove (aka feral Pigeon) coming in to land. When your target bird doesn't materialize, change the target.

D7200, 500f4 + 1.4 TC, ISO 800, 1/2500s @ f/7.1 manual.

This is a bird that I never bother to photograph in the UK, but this image may change my way of thinking. Lovely landing pose with the wings fully outstreched. The beak, eye and feet are nice and sharp. Good light on the bird showing plenty of feather detail. A great second target!

I love your "change the target" turn of phrase!
Sharp with a cool landing position.
I am not crazy about the BG and wish the blue was not in the frame but if there was no blue the BG would be really overwhelming. Not sure what the answer is here. Looks like you did some Gaussian blur to the BG which is a good idea.
The light has shown the neck iridescence very nicely,
Gail

Nice pose on the pigeon and the light looks nice as well.

Sharp with a good EXP. The wing position is nice but could have been better. And the light was well from your right. And the BKGR is problematic as mentioned by Gail.

with love, artie

Thank you all. Not my favorite background either. I did run a slight blur.