Heron head lock (and EC question)

Aloha! Beautiful forum, haven't posted here yet...

Wanted to get some more experience with my 70-200 F/4 L IS so I went to the park yesterday and found this beautiful Black Head Night Heron (I believe). I haven't really shot birds before so this was new and fun.

Just read another thread on using EC when shooting birds, which is timely as I'm trying to get a better grip on using the on board metering system.

What I normally do (and what I did for these images) is naively
1- compose
2- depress shutter 1/2 way
3- take note of 'the slider' on the EC bar (in viewfinder)
4- frantically dial in changes to shutter speed, aperture and/or ISO till the slider moves either a bit to + or - side of the EC bar (camera in Manual mode obviously...)
5- give and inner child laugh, pray and click.

Now, this is just a trial and error process. I'll take a shot, give a quick review in LCD (sometimes look at histogram), and then dial in "more light or less light".

I think I got a handle on how Tv, Av and ISO play into how much light registers on the sensor but I think I'm more confused now. I kinda just use the EC bar as a visual indicator as to how Tv, Av and ISO are going to affect the amount of light coming in.

Should I be adding another variable...ie. the overall 'greyness' of the image and include that into my to my decision making process as to which way to manually move my shutter, aperture and ISO?

All shot manual, no crop or PP. I shot in RAW so I guess I can use DPP to make some adjustments to EC but I'm trying to 'get it right' in camera .

Any comments on how to improve welcomed and appreciated .
Thanks

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two more... one blown out on his left side but I liked the pose. How could I have minimized some of the overexposed area of his feathers and not darken the rest of the image too much... thanks again for looking.

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Mostly you did OK, the shots in the shade are not a problem. The amount and intensity of the light (on white colors) will give you blow outs if you don't adjust any where from -1/3 to -1 1/3. Chimp your histogram after every shot and to see if you are over or under exposing too much.

With birds, you don't usually have much time to be tinkering with settings so shoot in Av mode, set the ISO as low as possible and forget it, then use the dial to set aperture to get an acceptible shutter speed. For these slow movers you don't need much, under 1/100s and you'll get some great shots. Try it. After awhile, you'll know instinctively where to set EC for any given color bird or lighting.

You have a very approachable Black-crowned Night Heron to work with. I would start going to the park on a regular basis and work this guy until you get some really good work done.
Not to disagree with anyone else on this forum, I think you should be shooting in manual. Generally, blacks & whites need exposure compensation. But with this subject, you have to expose for the lighter tones. If you were to do just the opposite, and expose for the blacks, you would blow out your lighter colors and not be able to save them in Photoshop.
I wold shoot in manual and try to shoot the fastest shutter speed possible. Expose for the light cream tones on the head and around the eye. When its possible, try to include a catchlight in the eye.
Expose dead on or 1/3 stop to the right (histogram). You'll find your images are easier to work with in Photoshop. Hope this helps. Don't hesitate to contact me via PM if you have some questions you need clarification with.
Go to work you lucky dog. Make sure you show us some of your best ones.

Pete