Black &White Pics

[printsnpaints]

To keep yourself from tweaking the photos too much, consider waiting for the right light when shooting. This can also give the photo a better texture.

 

[KmH]

I had heard that before about taking the picture in color then convert. I have photoshop elements v7 and do not like the conversions.

What feature of PsE7 are you using to convert to B&W?

The Convert to B&W feature under the Enhance tab does a decent job, but you would likely want to also do some dodge and burn too.
You can also use Camera Raw first, and then do additional editing in PsE7.

Additionally, you can do some other edits to help separate the Eagle from the background. You have not yet chosen an edit preference in your profile.

Here is a quick and dirty edit I did to your photo. I selected and made the background darker to better separate the eagles head from the background. I also did a bit of dodge and burn on the eagle to add definition to the chest feathers: