I like the setting and head angle and would put the bird further to the left in the frame so that he looks into the image and sharpen the head some more.
Monte, this is pretty neat! I'm sure most will prefer an alternative comp...but I'll proclaim right away that I love it as is. Out of the box thinking, and well seen :-). I would probably experiment in lowering the midtones to get the surroundings darker and maybe raise the colour temp a notch or two. I agree with Axel for another round of sharpening on the goose only. Otherwise well done...
Nice environmental shot, I like the back story, and the frost! I appreciate both Axels and Daniels opinion on this. I probably would crop it a bit from the left, but that is personal taste. I don think the bringing down the midtones might help.
I took a quick stab at the levels and curves here, hopefully something like Daniel had in mind. I left the crop per your original.
Lots of options here. I thought the adjustment made the bird pop out a bit more, and seem a tad sharper as well. I lost a little quality due to compression however.
Monte -
This is a fine image and the goose is in grass that reminds me of out native meadow grass here, it grows in flooded field till sometime in June.
I agree the bird might be better to the left and cropping. The surroundings seem a little bright to me as well as the top of the back.
Here I moved the goose to the left not by cropping as there is some yellow grass in front of it I find distracting (I moved the goose), I then cropped, changed color balance cyan and red down, yellow blue down), used just a little curve, vibrance and very little (2) saturation. I also selected hot back and lowered exposure there. Some final sharpening USM faded to luminosity.
Monte, wonderful to see the frost on the goose's back and I would not warm up the image at all since it is a cold morning. I would prefer that the goose had turned his head the other way, but I still like your image a lot. Do agree that the head should be sharpened a bit.