Black-crowned Night Heron in flight

This was taken last weekend at Pointe Mouillee State Game Area (southeast Michigan - near Lake Erie and the mouth of the Huron River). It's a pretty big area and depending on water levels in the wetlands (it's controlled) one either sees a lot, or not so much, but I've always gotten shots of something. I'd hiked about 5 miles with all my gear and was about a mile from the parking lot when I stopped for a water break. I saw this one flying in my direction and it took me a moment to figure out what it was. I had seen one much farther out earlier that morning, but was suprised to see this in flight one at about 1030 in the morning. I got several shots as he flew right by relatively low. If you haven't been there it can be a good place to shoot shorebirds and waders if you're willing to hike and occasionally be surprised or disappointed. Sorry for the long post - wanted to give some context.
f7.1, 1/1600, I400, 500mm+1.4x

Nice flight shot! It appears quite sharp. The blurred BG lends itself nicely to the sense of motion.

Nice catch, Michael! Excellent exposure and just enough motion blur.

Really nice Mike. I like how the bird is high enough in the frame to have a nice clean background behind it, but the OOF grasses toward the bottom lend to the environment.

MIke... I really love this image---the red eye of the BCNH makes this even better!
JG

thanks all for the comments. It's nice when you can see them coming, and they fly right at you so you can get set to take the shots.

Very nicely done. I don't envy you given that hike with all the gear (including the 500/4 and TCs) but it was certainly worth it.