Abert's Towhee

Here's a pic of Abert's Towhee taken at Sono Bono NWR on the east side of the Salton Sea, Ca. I'd like to ask for comments & suggestions for the future.

Here's the exif info:

Canon Rebel XT

Canon EF 300 mm f/4.0L IS USM w/ the Canon 1.4 TC

f/5.6, 1/200 shutter speed, ISO 800, handheld, no flash

I couldn't get these shy birds out in the open in sunlight, just in shade on a bright, sunny day. Also the soil around this area is very close to the bird's natural coloring. When I started working w/ the photo in CS5 the bird didn't stand out much from the soil. And, there were no interesting background objects to go w/ the bird. I.e., the pic was almost monotone. So, I increased the contrast a small bit to bring out the dark tones in the bird & make it stand out from the background a little. I also applied a small bit of noise reduction to the background to allow the detail in the bird's feathering to stand out more from the background & boosted the reds a very small bit. Comments on PP appreciated.

Final question - is there photographic value in such a monotone pic? What else could be done to make it better, if anything? Thanks for comments.

I am very envious because I have never seen this bird before!   In addition to adjusting the contrast, I wonder what would happen if you were to increase the saturation a bit?

Do you spish or use bird calls?  I do not use bird calls but I have been told by experts this bird can be lured out into the open with a playback tape.   Also, I don't typically use flash for wildlife, but this may be a situation where flash would help even out the lighting.   Shade presents a very difficult challenge for bird photography that's for sure,

These birds were coming to feeders around the visitors center. If one stood still and no other folks were coming and going they would come out to feed. This bird is similar to the 2 brown Towhees - California & Canyon. There seemed to be enough ambient light. I was concerned a flash would wash out the light brown background. I just wished I'd had more color variation in the photo.