Burrowing Owl (Lechucita Vizcachera)

Hi,
I've had very little chances of shooting birds in the last few months, today I was browsing the archive and found this picture from a couple of years ago.
http://www.patriciomurphy.com.ar/foros/luro_092.jpg

Light was awful and it was windy, I was using the D70 qith the AI Nikkor 400mm f/3.5 and added for this shot the TC301 2x tc, all set up on tripod (a Manfrotto 190, not the best choice for that combo). I shot a sequence of this one, mostly not sharp enough, but I like this one because of the pose and the fact that she's looking straight into the camera. That trip was a photographic failure for the most (we were looking for deers, it rained four days in a row, the sky was black most of the time, we were soaked, you get the picture - pun intended) :-), but this one saved the day for me.
ISO 800, 1/250. The D70 doesn't record aperture with these lenses, but I can guess it was wide open (which translates into f/7.1).

But for some more sharpness, it's a pretty nice image. At first I was bothered by the OOF bush in front of the owl, but the more I looked at the image the less I was bothered. I like the great eye contact and the nice BG.

Patricio, I think the expression is adorable! I like the unique composition-agree w/ a bit more sharpening-

I really wish this was sharper. I like the look of the owl, it looks quite miserable in those conditions! I would crop out a good portion of the left as that area brings nothing to the image - and with the owl looking straight-on the centered comp would work. Some of the branches at left look like if the front lens element was wet?

I like the composition and the stare and would sharpen the bird some more.

The eye contact, together with those lovely round eyes makes this for me. What a great OOF BG. Well captured.

I'l, give it some more sharpening, as suggested. I'm fearful about cropping, since I like to keep the images in a size that would allow me to get them on print properly, and this is a 6Mp original. Now, how much crop do you think one such image (roughly 3000x2000) can take in order to get 30x45cm prints (some 11x18", if my math's not wrong)?

Here it goes a repost with some more sharpening, I do think it gets better, but I shouls do it selectively, it seems to bring some artifacts in the branches:

http://www.patriciomurphy.com.ar/for...92_sharpen.jpg