Hi CM,
Thank you for posting your picture. There are so many amazing, talented photographers on this website that it can be intimidating to post a picture.
There are many issues to deal with in this picture.I am going to be blunt so fasten your seatbelt! The main issue is that the bird is soft. The eye catchlight is really wonky. The perch is not nice at all (especially sitting on the ground).The blacks are underexposed .
The BG is great. The head angle is OK.
A smaller aperture for better DOF and higher SS and ISO would have helped here.
I would crop the picture from the bottom to get rid of the ground and make it look like it was a branch in a tree. I would try to open up the blacks and selectively sharpen the head. I would try to fix the eye.
I have found that when posting pics on this site that it helps to have a thumbnail (you have to pay and become a member!!) to draw other members to your picture. It is well worth the money and you will learn lots.
Also, the less comments and critiques you get is usually inversely proportional to the quality of your image. The nicer the picture, the more comments and critiques.
Gail
Gail has made some excellent points. I do love the low angle of this image and as mentioned, the background is non-distracting and very good. I am wondering if the softness comes from a heavy crop? What ISO setting did you use? It may have been possible to up the ISO and use a smaller aperture and get the feet in focus.