Thanks, was pure luck, bird was hunkered down not ten feet from the paved bike trail, did not flinch as I stopped and hopped off the bike to get the shot.
Nice shot anyway - but you might like the result of editing that in a tool with a "Levels" or "Histogram" feature, and pulling the centre point to the right (preferably the RAW version) - I've found it a good way of dealing with photos that look slightly faded or washed out. Slightly different effect to playing with highlights/shadows sliders.