Egret

The Cattle Egret is a pretty common bird in Malaysia and is usually seen in the rice fields in my hometown. It's so named of course, because it tends to hang around cows which stir up grasshoppers and other insects which the bird feeds on. However, this is a shot taken at the local bird park while testing my new AF-S DX VR Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED. Yes the lens has a ridiculously long name but performance is brilliant! This shot was taken at the 200mm end of the lens' range and it's as sharp as I could possibly want. While the lens is pretty sharp even wide open, best results are obtained when you stop down the aperture a couple of stops down from maximum. Nikon D70.