I like the soft light, BG and details and wish for more eye contact and would run some NR on the BG. You could also try to reduce the contrast a few points or S/H to get more details in the shadows.
This is a fine eagle portrait. In this he looks rather contemplative and doesn't mind the presence of the photographer rather than those portraits where the bird is staring you down as a threat. The lighting is so soft and the background wonderful. I agree about noise-reduction. I received the same critique on some of my BG's and now use Noise Ninja on the BG only. It tends to smooth out the subject.
Love the great texture of the bird and the perch. Sharpness is perfect and the BG works well with the subject. As stated by others, eye contact would put this image over the top, and some NR on the BG would help too. Thanks for posting!
Very striking portrait William. What I first noticed in this image is the wonderful BG. The darker color tones creates a great mood in this image and really makes for a great BG to set off this magnient raptor. Love the composition and beautiful perch as well as asuperb pose and detail. Personally I love as posted. A slight head turn would be nice but I would be thrilled to have this one in my files.
Thanks for all the coments i did do a gosin blur on the back ground and i have some with him looking at me but i like this because it is different than what u normally see Thanks Again for all the wonderful comments