Very nice exposure on the whites and blacks but I felt the midtones were a little bit dark. I used a levels adjustment to bring them up just a bit more by pushing that middle slider a little further to the left.
I also gave the eye a bit of a curves adjustment to pop that beautiful catchlight a bit more.
Overall, very nice image Dave! A different position where the stick would be below or behind him would make this stronger but it's not bad the way it is as it doesn't block any of the important details of the bird's face or body.
You could probably smooth out the BG a bit more if you really wanted to...those few brighter blotches would be less noticeable with a little light cloning or the "paint brush" method we talk about around here all the time.
Very nicely done Jules. Subtle but it makes a big difference. It seems photo finishing is about light touches.
In hindsight I wish i had added a bit of canvas on left for sure and possibly on top.