Pic of the Day

     Least Bittern – Viera Wetlands; Viera, Florida:  As I photographed the least bittern in the previous post it moved closer and closer toward me.  I was sitting motionless and perhaps it did not see me as it seemed quite unaware of my presence.  The sun was very low on the horizon and within ten minutes or less of setting.  Though the light was low, I wanted to maintain enough depth-of-field to keep the bird sharp.  I had to choose a small f-stop to do that.  In doing that, the shutter-speed had dropped to a very slow speed and the bittern would not stay still.  It kept moving toward me, and each exposure was resulting in a blurry image.  Finally the bittern stopped for just a moment, struck this pose, and remained motionless for only a fraction of seconds.  It was enough time to get this shot.  

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f4,  1/25 sec. @ f11 with 1.4 extender.  Effective focal length-1000mm