Least Bittern

I'd heard that these were supposed to be relatively easy to find at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center, but I'd hadn't seen one there my previous trip to this area and didn't see one the first couple of times this trip.  The second time out I had been lying on my belly taking pictures of a pair of Blue-winged Teals while a couple of women told me they were watching one 25 feet away and were trying to get my attention.  That made it something of a challenge, so I went back yet again and the third time was the charm.  I actually ended up with three opportunities.  The first one was very poor-just a couple of mostly hidden shots before it disappeared into the reeds.  However, when I was about to leave a very loud Grackle insisted I take some pictures of its display antics and when I'd finished that and turned around, the Bittern was back and in a better position, though it still had a reed that was very obnoxious from any angle I could find.  After taking quite a few shots regardless, I went on to look for other subjects and when I came back the Bittern was out again and this time almost unobscured (from one small point of view).  This is one of the many shots I took from that point of view.  Oddly enough, I'd been told that these critters always perch in the reeds, but all three times I saw it, it was on the ground.

7D2, Sigma 150-600 C @ 600 mm, hand held, f/8, 1/2500, iso 1250, aperture priority, pattern metering, -2/3 EV to keep from blowing out those white lines.  Processed in LR & PS CC.  Cropped to a full height 6x7 vertical.  Desaturated and dimmed the bg slightly and removed a small piece of green cattail in the LR corner.

Comments and criticisms are always appreciated.

Thanks,