Welcome Jim!!!!! I like the pose Excellent head angle Did not see the exp compensation but seems under exposed Cropping wise I would crop from the right and give more room on the left (direction the bird is looking ) Tighten the top !!!!
BG is a bit busy and competing with attention Hoping to see lots more Going to download and do some work on the bird !!!
Al did a great job of tweaking out the image. The good news is the base quality was there to tweak.
I love the eye contact. I don't think the background was an issue, it looks like the foreground.
A branch is running across the little guys face.
I had an issue like that yesterday, the wind was kickin' so I was able fire the shutter while the wind moved the weeds out of the way of my Blue Bird. The subjects don't always hang out while we wait for the wind.;)