Last July this youngster glided down from the rookery on the hillside above this beaver pond, settled down, and then gave himself a quick fluff-up. I was sitting on top of the beaver house (listening to the kitts mewling beneath me) and this was one of my 1st goes with my new 5DMIII and 400mm DO with1.4 Ext.III. I thought I might as well post this here now because I saw the "textures" theme contest in wildlife and had this all ready to go before I realized that "Wildlife" excludes birds.
ISO160,1/250,f9.5,-1EV,aperture priority,AF surround.
A good find, but I wonder how it would look a a little brighter and with a lower contrast? (The histogram is pushed well into the darks.)
Normally with that camera, a -1 EV shouldn't be needed in full sun, although every scene is different. I would overexpose as much as I could and not get blinkies, then bring down light tones (and others as needed) in raw processing. That will give better shadow detail and should minimize too much contrast.
Sounds like you were having a serene time on that beaver hut! This a tough situation you had, mainly due to light (both its harshness and its angle). Plus the heron came too close. You were obviously "stuck" in the spot you were so not much you could have there. Looks to me like the scene was exposed properly for what it was...any more and the marshy area in the BG would have been even brighter and possibly blown.