Green heron

Shot this today. I was attempting to a setup at a belted kingfisher's favorite perch. (The kingfisher flared immediately upon seeing my "camouflage"--gah I hate them) This green heron, however, had no problem with my setup. I cloned out a couple small branches and a shadow on the bird. I left the other branch in after burning it down, I'll be interested to see what others think. All C&C welcome.

Techs:
D3s
500 f4 with 1.4
1/1000
f/6.3
ISO 800

This is a lovely portrait of the bird. Nice background, exposure, sharpness and pose. I find that upper branch to be more of a distraction, especially given that it's out of focus. I understand that it might be nice to frame the bird with such a branch, but it just doesn't work for me. The bird itself (with a little cropping) can carry the photo, in my opinion.

Sharp with a good EXP and a nice pose. The bird is much too centered for my tastes.... Were you using the central sensor???

sweet pose, exposure, detail and the color contrast against the dark BG takes it to the top. I would trim from the lower left corner without losing the spider web and eliminate the upper OOF branch.

great work

Toning down the perch and re-cropping to de-center the subject will give you pleasing results. The subject looks great with beautiful colours and nice details.

Love the light and the color of the BG.
I would crop in a bit more from the left to spider web edge and get rid of the branch in LUC.
IQ is excellent,
Gail

Nice bird, light and pose. I find it a bit too yellow but must be my eyes!

Superb image. Wonderful colors and details on bird.Very nice HA. Extremely beautiful backdrop on which it pops up superbly.
Agree with above about crop and removal of branch in the ULC.

Regards,
Satish.

I agree 100% with everything said. Nice work

lovely details & light on the subject. BG is awesome. Agree with others on the comp.