Working with and against the sun

This is honestly the closest I've been to a Great Blue Heron without them flying away from what they think is a man with a hand cannon. I was working just below the Eagle & Phenix Mill Falls with the last bit of sunset hitting the heron's face. I hope for this to be the worst of my best images of herons and in the future to really be able to capture the grace of these birds.
Shortly after this image, I drove back over the 13th street bridge because the sun was setting directly on it. I worked the scene for awhile trying to get a single car isolated at the apex of the bridge. I'd be happier with a bit more range in the light, but this is something to build on. Next time I'll use a higher F-stop to make the sun even more defined and I'll experiment with bracketing the exposure a bit more.