My first Great Egret

[Teddy Regpala]

I scouted this afternoon (Sat) the place I'm going to go birding tomorrow. Just about 5 miles from home (that's approx. 8km).

I'm a little disappointed, as I'm not sure the variety of birds I'm hearing about are there at all this time of the year.
Well, we'll see tomorrow.

This is my first ever encounter of this bird, as far as shooting is concerned. So, pardon my first try.

Nikon D300, AF-S 300mm f/4 with TC 1.4 (420mm effective), f/9, 1/1250s, auto ISO 400 (I should have turned this off, bummer), 14-bit NEF. Handheld, sorry, this is just a scouting trip.
In CaptureNX, I adjusted exposure compensation, levels, sharpened a bit, cropped, resized, and converted to jpg, that's it.

Comments and critiques are welcome.

[Romy Ocon]

Nice first GE, Ted..... great exposure control on the whites despite what looks like challenging light!

[Mark Itol]

Nice shot Ted. Agree with the Mastah regarding the exposure.

[Teddy Regpala]

Harsh light for a GE indeed.