I've been asked quite a few times as to the composition of the background and for the life of me I'm still yet to work it out as there didn't appear to be anything different in the surrounds with the naked eye.
Some Clone Stamping of the reeds under the birds feet.
Has the feel and look of a fine art print. The unusual BG really sets this image apart, congrats! Maybe you were panning vertically with the bird as it was landing. Cool effect even if it wasn't planned.
The background certainly is striking. It does slightly overpower the subject however. I would agree with Mital that it might be worth cropping from the top. I would be inclined to try cropping about 40% or so of the free space at top, and if you have a bit more room on the left, that would be nice.
Having said that, I do like it as posted. It all depends on what 'message' you are trying to communicate here.
Richard, when I saw this image at first I was totally 'bowled over' by the artistic feel of it. However as Randy & Mital pointed out I would crop the blank space at the top and would add some more space at the sides. Congrats!!