Nice to see this image. I agree that the critical focus is not on the bird's eye. Else, it would have been great. You need to check whether the AF point is placed on the bird or not. In cropped images where the subject is distant, the auto focus point often covers a wide area and in those situations it can lock on to any part where the contrast is high. How much of a crop is this? Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi