Pretty rare sight here in the Uk. These reside in only a tiny numbers and in possible only 2-3 locations. Disease is killing of a large percentage of our population.
Image captured on Canon 1DmkIIN with 300mm F2.8 + 1.4x
Love those ears Steve and I like the posture, eye contact and look of the squirrel. I would suggest that you need some more room on the right (whiskers go right up to the edge) and in the field a slightly lower persepective would have gotten all green behind him and gotten rid of the divided BG.
Other than the things Robert A mentioned is I would crop out the black strip across the bottom of the frame, you an preview the effect with your browser window, and I would run some noise reduction on the BG.
also if you didnt want to add canvas, you can always shorten the whiskers to keep them from looking clipped, if that is within your photograhic processing ethics of course.
Robert & Robert, Thanks very much for the comments and suggestions. I am working on the more advanced PS skills at present but having particular problems with adding canvas, but it will get better.
What do you guys use as noise reduction software I seem to see little difference after running noise ninja.