I love that pose! It looks like when a dog wants to play LOL! I like the soft light but a tad more contrast and saturation might help here! Congratulations!
The saturation and contrast look OK from my end, but I agree about the OOF streaks being distracting. Very, very neat pose! So, did you wedge a seed in there?
I really like it. The out-of-focus streaks in the background does not bother me, on the contrary I think the provide some extra structure and interest. The pose of the bird is just great