Bananaquit

really cool perch and bg, Elizabeth, and I like the pose too. the light is pretty harsh here, with very bright whites and rather dark shadows. some shadow/highlight tool might help moderate that a bit, but there's no substitute for shooting when the light is best.

Cool looking bird, and a great perch, Elizabeth. I love the rayed plant in the bg-and in such a perfect position. It looks to me as if some of the whites are a bit hot.

I like the fanned background creating lines that point to the subject. Very nice. It doesn't look like the birds head is the sharpest part of the image.

This is a tough one, I agree with Keith about the BG, it's interesting. The perch and position of the subject is nice. Lighting and shadows look to be the issue here. The bird as a whole seems to be a bit soft other than maybe the beak. The plant perch looks to be the sharpest. As I'm learning all to well you just can't fix an image that's OOF.

Thank you all. Maybe it's time I try to use a tripod with the Bigma. The area is tight and the birds are fast.

Elizabeth, I really like the bg fan lines pointing to the subject. Lots of color and even eye contact, but maybe as others have mentioned, a little soft. Doesn't look out of focus, I'd give it a bit more sharpening.

I really like the composition. A tripod might have been a help here to get that sharpness you were close to getting.