Birds can be one of the toughest mounts to recreate. The best way to understand a good bird mount is to look at a real bird or photos of live birds and compare. Here are some tips to focus on:

Anatomy
Is the bird balanced or does it look like it could tip over?
Do the wings and tail flow from the body or jut out at odd angles?
Does the neck look skinny and stretched tight or bunched up, or smooth and flowing from the head into the body?

Eyes
Are they symmetrical?
Are they bulgy or set too deeply?
Are they the right color?
Are the eyelids reconstructed and painted correctly?

Feet
Are they located in the correct place?
Are they shrunken and shriveled up?
Are they the right color? Do they look painted?

Professionalism
Is it clean?
Does it smell?
Are there wires sticking out of the mount?
Is there overspray on the feathers?
Does it look fluffy and smooth?
Is it firmly attached to the base or wood?

A major problem in bird taxidermy is proper degreasing. If a skin is not degreased thoroughly, it will be odorous, attract bugs, and may even bleed grease onto the feathers in hot weather.The bill and the feet should look full and fleshy. Feet should be injected and the fleshy parts of the bill rebuilt. The use of artificial heads eliminates shrinkage of the bill.