Yes, Geoff, it does appear that you may have had some challenges with this shot as it does look a tad noisy. It is, however, a most interesting pose. I really like the straight "up" position of the beak. It makes a very cool angel with the wing.
I must get at that itch, great timing. Fabulous angle of wing and beak, nicely done.
That's a cracker.
Nice one.
Problems be darned that's a great shot
Hahah...Great
Preening shots always seem a good idea at the time but rarely turn out well. I've got a virtual bin full of them. But this one is an exception. Great position on the bird, interesting ruffled feathers, clean BG, and nice water/reflection. May be worth a bit of additional PP to clean up the noise etc.
Great
A great pose, well captured.
Thanks for the comments. This image has already had quite a bit of noise reduction, selectively applied.
It was rather gloomy light and I had to keep the exposure low to avoid over exposure on the whites; even at this level I have lost much of the fine feather detail.
Ripper shot. Perfect moment.