I love, love the interaction here.
I like the black and white rendition. Are they allo-preening?
I would raise the overall exposure by about 1/3 of a stop (if that does not introduce noise) .
I love the BG as well. Really looks dramatic and sets the tone of the image.
Great behavior, well captured. I like the B&W, my preference would be to lower the blacks a bit for more tonal range, but that is different to others...