After much experimenting I decided that leaving the branches in gave a feeling of habitat, and added to the image instead of detracting, but I suspect others will likely disagree. Photographed near a feeder recently here in NS.
I love the pose. Great capture.
My personal preference would be to see it without all the branches in the way - however I can't even get a shot of one so I am gonna shut-up!!
How did you get one on the branches? - they are always on the ground around my feeder and never stay on branches long enough for me to get a good capture.
Was it a large crop or did you get that close to it. I have close to the same tech setup and can never get close enough to them with the 300 + 1.4.
Rob, yes these guys can be wary, but by concealing yourself they will come in no problem. I can get full-frame with my 1-4 lens this way. If you have lots of seed debris on the ground they likely won't perch close to your feeder as that is their preffered feedind method.
Richard, I like the pose you got on this guy, but the head seems to be suffering from subject motion (the rest of the body look OK). The smaller branches would have been alright by themselves, but the heavier tangle of branches in LRC (and the upward running one cutting across the tail) are just too much IMO. Could you have moved left a bit to minimize them? Good exposure, and a decent BG that only needs toning down at the whitish area in front of the bird.