I tend to start with the eyes and then draw everything else in relationship to them, especially with birds. With horses, or kinkajous, not so much... not sure why. Or maybe I am.
Birds don't have expressive faces, but they do (or can) have expressive eyes. Windows to the soul? Maybe not (word has it that an owl's eyes are so large that there's just not that much space left over for the brain in the skull), but it sure makes them interesting.
