How to Paint Birds' Feet

I painted the branch at the same time as the bird's feet so that I could get the contrast of the feet right.  The light is very strong on the bird's left, so in order to get that highlight light enough without making it white and therefore losing it's colour, I painted the branch as dark as I could to get that highlight to pop out.

I painted in the darks first with Ultramarine Blue and Cadmium Red and then the midtone shadows.  The highlights are very light pinks, and very light blues - put a lot of colour into your greys and blacks so that they don't appear too dull.