Open wing preening is a common behavior among egrets and herons, but it is still a treat to see every time and makes for an arresting photograph. This Great Egret, standing in the warm sun of a Florida winter morning at Viera Wetlands in Melebourne, against the blue water and the green reeds, is ideally placed to show off the lovely wing structure on one side and the delicate breeding plumes on the other.

The Canon SX40HS at 840mm optical equivalent zoom plus 1.5x digital tel-converter for 1240mm. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation (my standard setting for general photography) handled the tricky exposure here about as well as it could be handled…holding detail in all but the brightest hotpoints, while still rendering the shadow under the wing very naturally. I can take no credit. The camera did it all. f6.3 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 200.

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.