your title takes the viewer to the mage of the birds...which if taken as the main subject may have worked...they do appear to be looking out of the screen in two different directions. What hurts this image for me is the eyes are pulled to the highlights on the trees. Also the palms??? lower left and the time stamp lower right. maybe a tighter crop giving the birds and the branches they sit on a greater roll in the overall composition of the shot. hope this helped:)
I really like this photo (but not the date). It is wonderrfully composited and you have caught a perfect weird moment. I don't think it has anything to do with the challenge, though. If it was 'patterns in nature' I would have given it a ten. If you want to fuss, take out the tiny off-angle frond bits and the little bits of branches on the edge of the frame at the right. Take more shots like this.