I took this one last summer at the UC Santa Barbara campus lagoon. There were some major forest fires in the area that gave the light a very warm glow even at midday. The sun at sunrise was deep red as I recall.
Hi Leroy I remember images from that time It was spooky !!!
I like the overall exposure and sharpness You did place the point of focus at the right place The head angle is lightly off Not sure if you could have moved at all (and still line up the bird) but the highlights on the bg do distract
For these images with the bird's neck in an S shape is always tough to decide the crop I have gone back and forth several times on alternatives... basically will go down to personal taster My guideline is asking where is the action and zero in !!!
if the light was only in the right place!!
Hate when the light is just the wrong angle.....but it looks like it was pretty bright anyway and that would
make it even more difficult if it were moved around.
for me the crop is a tough call, somewhat agreeing with Alfred......a horizontal midpoint through the bottom "S" may work well