New telephoto zoom lens - test shot

[wackii]

I've just acquired the Sigma 50-500mm OS ($1,509). I went to the park close-by to take a few test shots. I took this hand held at 500mm focal length, f/9, 1/500sec at about 70-80 feet away. So far so good, no issue w/ the lens yet. It does get heavy after a couple of hours holding it. BTW, is this a duck or bird?

 

[Overread]

Looks like a good result! Chances are you can sharpen it a little more to get a bit more crispness to the finished photo.

As for the species well ducks are birds but this looks to be a breed of Cormorant. If you're keen on bird photography I'd strongly recommend picking up a good quality bird identification book (I'm UK based so can't suggest a good publication for the US bird breeds). If you can don't get a book with photo identification and instead get one with drawn references. Drawn pictures are much easier to work with in identification because they will clearly show the ideal markings on the bird - photographs can be much more difficult to work with because they don't show the key identification factors as cleanly as a drawn reference will plus they can be missleading if the subject in the photo had less than perfect conformity.

 

[bc_steve]

It's for sure a cormorant ... a double-crested cormorant perhaps?