The composition is nicely balanced as is, Patricia, and removing the egret on the right would have ruined the story. Also, the lone egret flying away, even with the stick, probably wouldn’t have worked very well, whereas including the recipient makes the going-away pose work much better. A good job getting them both in focus. On my monitor, it looks like you could raise the exposure quite a bit.
Agree with Dennis. Definitely leave the second bird. The composition works. It’s not a bad spot to have cut off the second bird if not including all of it. I believe you could bring up the exposure quite a bit and not lose detail in the whites. Also I the White Balance is a bit blue. It’s a nice story image.
Works well to my eyes. Composition feels balanced and yes having the two birds tells a richer story.
Like seeing the interaction between the two egrets, Patricia. The lighting and colors also make for a very nice image. I think having the second egret make this image better as the first one is flying away - I would have liked to see it fully though.
“eliminate the bird on the right” ? Heavens no!