A busy jumble of sticks, bright spots, or other distracting background elements commonly ruin otherwise fine photos. Sometimes you can’t do a thing about it, but quite often you can. Don’t spend an hour in Photoshop doing something you can easily do in mere seconds in the field!
For example, a simple change of position or waiting just a bit for an animal to change its position frequently does the trick. A bird in a tree with bright spots of sky showing through makes creating a non-distracting background extra challenging. Try moving until a solid clump of leaves backs the bird.
Bottom line: you want the viewer’s eye to go to your subject first, not to undeserving distractions.