Here's another shot of a bird enjoying the warmth of the sun -- in this case a Black-crowned Night-Heron at sunrise. From the Ocean City Rookery last July.
D7200, 500f4, ISO 3200, 1/2000s @ f/6.3 manual. Was set for flight shots, watching juvies practicing their take-offs, when I spotted this guy catching some rays. I was pleased with the IQ at this ISO.
Randy, I don't recall exactly what I did in PP. I'm sure I gave a heavy dose of Topaz DeNoise to the background, and I did apply some blur to the BG; but doubt that I resorted to any heroics on the bird. But it's possible that there was some NR applied by Nikon Capture NX-D in raw conversion. I've found that if I'm able to expose to the right, and don't have to brighten dark areas, the D7200 usually does pretty well at high ISO.