Pintail take-off

I was getting ready to photograph this pintail drake as he floated on the water at a nearby lake. The sky was a little overcast and the duck was in the shade so I was shooting at 1/500 @ 5.6 @ 400 ISO. Just as I was ready to shoot he exploded out of the water and I got off two shots, only one that captured the whole duck, before he was out of the frame. There would have been less blur in the wing tips if I had been able to use a faster SS and I know some photographers like to freeze the wings but personally I like a little blur in the wingtips. This is slightly more blur than I usually prefer but the slower SS also gave me a nice combination of frozen water and streaking water which I kind of like. Because of the SS it is not 100% sharp but I feel that it is plenty sharp enough to work, at least it does for me. I am interested in what others may think. I was also lucky to get some nice color in the water from reflected fall foilage. I also have another version of the shot with a tighter crop showing less water but I liked all the flying water so I decided to post the pano crop. I know the crop is a little unusual with less canvas in front for the duck to move into but I think this looks good. I am also interested in other opinions on my choice of the crop.

Thanks in advance for any comments or criticisms.

D300s and 200-400 w/ TC14
1/500 @ 5.6 ISO 400
63% of FF