[Mr Guy]

First, I'm very sorry for your daughter's loss. I hope she's taking it well.

Hmm, very interesting. What metering mode are you in? That particular example is an excellent example of what you'd call a "black dog in white snow" demonstration of when zone based metering may not give the desired effect, or at least the exact opposite. What's happened is that you've got a very bright, very reflective white center and a very dark area surrounding it. For that concrete example, it appears how it does because it's attempting to average out the bright white and the shadows around it to a consistent gray. You'll notice comparing the image series that you've actually blown out the highlights badly on your manual attempts. The fully automatic version is a little dark, but the manual versions are very over exposed. In particular, look at the detail in the dark version in the feathers and the shiny reflections on the grass then compare to the white mass and yellowy blob of grass on the bottom right.

Do you have other examples? It's possible that it's a matter of choosing the correct metering mode and then knowing when to use exposure compensation.