Too bright for bird photography?

It's a rare thing to say for a photographer, but there was one day by the canal in Washington Crossing State Park in Pennsylvania that it was too bright to photograph bird in the water.

 The white of the great blue heron there was practically a flash bulb going off in my eyes, and the camera saw it that way, too.

Too bright to photograph normally.

It's said that Darwin commented that the creature that survives is not the strongest or the fittest but the one who adapts best to change. Some attributed that observation not to Darwin but another scientist. It doesn't much matter for the thing at hands.

I had to change my settings or not survive this contrasted, bright scene and take home some decent photos.

I had the camera set on standard, but with +2 saturation, +2 contrast and +1 sharpness. The plus setting in contrast was obviously a problem, but I didn't want to change it.

I simply lowered the EV exposure by one stop.

With one stop of light removed.

The result stunned me.

One simple adjustment made the great blue heron into a movie star.

I took more photos with the same adjustment. This was not journalism, but an attempt at art with common things.

I survived the contrasted situation that bird photographers fear and loathe.

Darwin would have been proud.