I didn't do too much special to these images, outside of process them for best appearance (i.e., no "head sticking out of frame" shots, though that was very creative!). I like what you've both done; I love lots of color and I sometimes get hit with comments from others that I have oversaturated my photos. 'Course my most famous photo to date is my Hypersaturated Moon image.
Anyway, here are my two processes. Both opened in Photoshop Camera Raw at an upsampled resolution, processed some at the highest resolution, fractal sharpened, and reduced in size for posting.
Notable things done: A bit of minor cloning to remove some minor distracting elements, a little bit of dodging to bring up the dark face in the Moorhen and make it seem more 3D, selective noise reduction on the backgrounds for a creamy smoothness and enhancemenet of 3D feel, selective local contrast enhancement to increase the appearance of feather detail.
Click on these to see higher resolution versions.
-Noel