Great White Egret...maybe

I believe this is a Casmerodius albus, or Great White Egret, but thats only my first impression and it will probably be wrong, as all of my other first impressions of birds have been . Anyhow, there was this bird and several ducks of some kind sitting on a low dam in a near by lake that I saw while driving past. I decided to get try and get a picture of it, so I drove home, got the camera and bag (in case I needed some of the other stuff) and drove back to the lake. Found the nearest place to park, did so, and walked three minutes to the lake only to find out I left the battery at home! Anyhow, repeated the same process (this time with the battery and everything else) and started to shoot. By this time it was getting late and the available light was removing itslef quite rapidly. Switched to flash and got this:

You're right about the ID, and it's a lovely shot.

It is a fantastic shot.. very well done. Love the lighting and exposure,.


Your mostly right about the ID.. it is a Great Egret. (The white is redundant ... and yes it is a coloquialism that is acccepted...)

Well,it seems that your camera and flash have done a perfect metering job,well done.

Wow, how did you do that?

Good one, Jonathan! It's beautiful -- worth the extra effort and exceptionally well done!

Thank you for the responses, I was hoping that this shot would have turned out exactly like it did.

Paul A, the background was dark enough that, given the shot settings (which I will try to dig up) the flash was providing practically all the light, which makes the background appear to be simply black. Thanks for the correction CDS, I am slowly managing to learn all of the names for the species in the area.

Shot Settings were:
Shutter Speed: 1/200
Aperture: F/8
Focal Length: 300mm
ISO: 400
EC: -1

Now here is the funny part, this was taken with the built-in flash!
I don't get to have my 430 until Christmas, but until then I am stuck with this- but it seemed to work out.

I was rather close to the bird at the time as well, just close enough to fill the frame.

Oh, and this is the type of the 'other birds' that were around
Anyone have an ID on this one?

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I really like those shots, interesting effect, especially how the egret appears to be floating in air. Really nice to have such pure white against a dark background. The second one is a Double-crested Cormorant.

I really like both shots, well done

Thank you both for the comments, and, ngannet, thanks for the ID.