Background help

[Stan Cunningham]

I traveled to a friends house in SE AZ to get some nice images of birds in SE AZ at a small pond he put in his yard. 31 species.
However, to hide some of his house he put up a light green canvas in the background which initially I thought was a good idea.
However, when looking at some images it looks "fake" for lack of a better term.
I tried just about every thing I know to try and add some contrast and interest but was not successful and thought one of you pros would be able to help. If I need to move this to eager to learn I certainly will.
This is a vertical image a female Acorn Woodpecker that I like, but you can see there is not much interest in the background. Do you guys have any suggestions? Am I making too much of background with little detail?
As always comments are appreciated as this is a great learning forum for me.
Canon 7D 500 F4 with 1.4 II, F 7.1, 1/4000 ISO 500
No processing yet.

[gail bisson]

Hi Stan,
I think you are worrying a bit too much about the BG. My concern with this shot is that you cut the tail off. If there is any green in the canvas, all you have to do to bring it out is to select the BG and play with color balance to bring a bit of green out,
Gail

[Stan Cunningham]

I tried that Gail but with little success. I see what you mean about the tail.

[arash_hazeghi]

The BG is fine here IMO, main issue is the clipped tail and slightly steep shooting angle plus the sun angle that has created shadows. Try to place the camera higher and if you can make sure the setup is such that the sun is behind you.

it's a beautiful bird I'm sure you will nail this one soon!

[jack williamson]

I don't mind the bg at all and the tree trunk is great. tail already mentioned.

Jack