I make do with what is around here... :-P

[Knight]

Nice Captures Top one is softer than bottom one , think its the background that`s your enemy here. But you captured a great amount of detail in the bird itself

[Loupey]

Nice specimen, SS. Personally, I don't like to see the hand of man (or woman) - the railing - in shots of wildlife.

As for the "pop", you can easily achieve it with a slight curves adjustment. But your background is definitely going to go hot. Get images of birds lower to the snow in order to get more light onto the bird - reducing the dynamic range within the frame.