Nothing get's past you J, lol. Maybe i should have said captive life, lol.
In either way, the birds feathers are very reflective. Since it was out in the sun, the dynamic range of the camera is more often than not exceeded. What i did was spot meter on the bird, so that the highlights do not get blown out. I then brought out the shadows. It's always better to underexpose a bit, rather than over. Once you blow out a highlight it's gone forever.