I found this photo quite hard to edit. Its backlit and despite 1/1250s shutter speed not very sharp. Chromatic aberrations also are an issue.
In addition to darktable I used GIMP for cleaning up the messy parts of the image. The bird seems to be a Goldcrest - Regulus regulus - キクイタダキ.
IMG_2026-01-12_12-17_0139.CR3.xmp (22.2 KB)
IMG_2026-01-12_12-17_0139.CR3 (54.2 MB)
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I criticize unquestioned, sorry for that. 
But in my opinion, you removed the wrong things and added the wrong:
IMG_2026-01-12_12-17_0139.CR3.xmp (18,4 KB)
Thanks for your edit and for the critique.
I fully, agree with your 2nd and 3rd point.
Concerning the 1st point I only agree with the last part of the sentence 
Gerd
Hi Gerd.
I agree this was a tough one. So many of my own bird shots are like this. However much I tinker with spot-weighted metering, I end up under exposing the subject against a bright sky; especially if it’s a fast-moving one like this.
I used some judicious masking to bring up the bird without over-brightening the tree. Lots of tweaking with Contrast Equaliser in order to bring out the colours but mute - not wholly successfully - some of the blotchy chroma noise. It’s a powerful module, but I’m still trying to get the hang of it. 
Thank, you.
Less contrast as in the edit of Uli (not a big surprise )
but also a bit less noise.
Gerd
I used base curve fusion instead of AGX or Sigmoid to handle the extreme backlighting. I am amazed how much everyone is recovering with the underexposed bird.
IMG_2026-01-12_12-17_0139.CR3.xmp (20.3 KB)
You did restore a lot of structure as well, but you introduced some yellowish halo around the branches and the bird. By intend?
Just pushing the recovery too hard and not getting to fussy about the halos. I could probably avoid them with more care. Base curve fusion helps with backlit shots but this one was really pushing it.
This is probably better. I changed the preserve colors option in the base curve module.
Much better indeed 
I’m not the birds expert, maybe @Thomas_Do can tell us how he is doing his shots.
I for myself use manual mode for bird shots. This gives me most times better results and more control.
A very reasonable suggestion. The picture was taken with an Canon R5 and if exposure bracketing had been used a brighter exposure could have been selected. The bracketing on an R5 would be super quick as well. I use bracketing for most of my shots on my Canon R7 and that includes shots taken in manual mode.
I don’t even use exposure bracketing. I set a value where shutter speed is quick enough (for birds somewhere around 1/2000). Close the aperture a bit to have enough depth for the focus. With that values, I adjust ISO that high that the brighter parts of the sky are not burned out. And then I wait for my victims. 
Probably a technique with potential for improvement but that’s how I do it. Or better to say did it with my Canon so far. Now I have to make experiments with the Sony highlight metering. Maybe this way I can use Auto ISO instead of a fixed value.
I do something similar. Most important to set the shutter speed to freeze the motion or allow some blurring in the wings if this is wanted. If there is enough light I might close the aperture a little. I have no high-end telephoto lens, so the aperture is in general mostly okay, even when “wide open”. Most likely, the available light is the limiting factor at this stage. So, I shoot in auto ISO mode. My camera is mostly ISO invariant, so the actual ISO does no really matter so much.
What metering method do you use when you shoot with Auto ISO?
As stated above, I don’t care so much because the light is mostly the limiting factor and the raw file will come out similar no matter what ISO is used (invariance). So, I mostly use multi mode, sometimes in combination with manual exposure compensation. I especially try to avoid over exposure of parts of the image (e.g. sky). For this i use the Sony zebra indicator.
Yes, pretty difficult edit. I used FilmicRGB and two instances of Tone Equalizer. I didn’t feel like I could do much more to emphasize the bird without going wonky.
Thank you Terry
The recovery of details is indeed amazing. It seems that color calibration adds a yellow tint around the bird and the branches (or makes it visible).
Gerd
