This is all about the gesture of the birds. A slow enough shutter speed to slightly blur their movement, but not lose their shapes. I like the downward angle of the top bird as it chases the next, and the static form of the bird on the ground to anchor the composition. I go back and forth on the long piece of grass between the two at the top. I really should remove it and see if it makes the arrangement stronger, but I like it as is all the same. After some quick editing, I have some good results.
With all of the grass removed, the composition is even more stark than it was originally.
Here I've removed part of the grass that was between the two birds. I like the punctuation these strands provide, though the completely clean version is compelling as well. At the moment, my preference is for this last version.
