Nest building Cattle Egret

[Albert Froneman]

I made this image quite a while ago at a bird sanctuary near to where I live. I was amazed at the size of the branch (tree :D) this individual took to the nest...

Camera Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark II
Shutter speed: 1/1600 sec
Aperture: 6.3
Exposure mode: Av
Exposure compensation: -1/3
Metering mode: Evaluative
ISO: 400
Lens: 300mm + 1.4

Comments welcome :)

[Joe Brown]

Very good capture. Nice diagonal, sharp focus
Was this shot taken at dusk or dawn because on my monitor it has warm colour cast making the sky mauve and bird's wing off white?

[Sid Garige]

Albert,

Excellent composition with perfect subject placement. Really like the way you composed this image.
Down beat wing and over sized branch are fantastic.
Very nice exposure and details. Techs are working good.

Great job.

[Albert Froneman]

Thanks folks - Joe this was late afternoon.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The pose and sharpness look very good, but that large branch makes it special. The image looks a bit underexposed on my monitor.

[Peter Farrell]

Beautiful image, I agree on the excellent compostion. I really like the sky color.
Must have been some big nest they were building?
Peter

[Arthur Morris]

Whites and EXP look fine from here. You were lucky to have the face clear of the leaves. The head is turned slightly away. You did an amazing job of framing the image. I would love to see the full frame original image.

[Albert Froneman]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions folks - Arthur here's the full image:

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the orig. The bird flew by at just the right distance and your crop was perfect.

[Hendri Venter]

Lovely presentation with perfect exposure. I'm amazed by the size of the nest material.