Going to the Zoo always provides an opportunity to play with different shooting and editing techniques to provide a feeling you may not have thought of in the field. For this shot I underexposed the image to darken out the background while keeping the snowy egret a nice white. I then brought up the whites in post and was left with a very dramatic looking image.
Stunning -- and there is a sense of personality you caught as well!
This would have been perfect in the movie, "The Cell". Magnificent piece!