well, ... hmm... i think the backgound is distracting, in it's texture and the immitation bird doesn't really captivate me. allright with the framing, but perhaps rule of thirds could have been profitedfromin this image... ...
OK.... let's go by your title, 'A New Species', this would imply that this is NOT mundane and therefore would not meet the challenge. From a photographic standpoint, it's a touch hard to look at and looks over photoshopped, however, it could just be that you used an on board flash and it made the shot look funny...
TC