Zac, IMO you paint properly, you put paint on the paper and the viewer finds something to look at, painting is no more complicated than that. But then there is the confliction between painting, and aesthetics, and add to that in our game identifiability. There are so many possible outcomes for the same picture it boggles the mind. I really like your last two pictures, do nothing more to them, overworking ruins pictures, look at them, if you're not entirely happy with them, think why, what could you do differently next time. Also, look at the positive points (there are very many!)
It's good that you see 'problems' with these pictures, never being completely happy and looking to do 'better' pictures will make you a great artist one day if you carry on. (Well, I hope that happens to me one day!) If you've got the drive, and the ability to be frustrated by what you paint, yet still pick up the paintbrushes, you'll be an artist.
If you want a technical suggestion, look at the feather groups of the bird, I think that is what I do when I paint (or I try to do). So, paint the ear coverts in one stroke, the greater coverts in one stroke, draw in the tertials as a group before dividing them up. Once you've got solid feather groups, the detail can come in later.
That's quite a chunk of writing, I've got verbal diarrhoea after speaking French so long, I've got some British birding mates staying and I haven't stopped speaking since, apologies if this post is going on, I'll end here! Cheers.
