Ehhh, I actually like your bird much more than Elk's, Charlieton. Yours is much cuter and bird-like looking, where, like you said, his has this unusual "it's a person that was morphed into a bird" vibe going on. I also like your shading more. The style's simpler and easier to read. I can't tell if Elk's is supposed to have a second light source coming in from the left, of that's just the color of the bird's feathers, even when zoomed in. At the normal size, it's even harder to read for me.
And is your bird straight pixel art, Elk, or did you draw it in Photoshop or something? The anti-aliasing is a tiny bit overdone, imo, making the bird look a little muddy. Charlieton's has that awesome SNES vibrancy and pop, in comparison.
So, sorry for downing on basically everything about your bird, Elk; it's good too. Just thought I needed to give Charlieton an opposing opinion, because I do prefer his.
Also, Elk, I checked out your DeviantArt...that dragon you did is freaking amazing, hahah. I thought it was a digital painting, until I looked closer and noticed the ridiculous amount of detail you'd put into it. =D
Edit: And your bird *painting* is pretty cute, Elk. I think the main problem I have with your sprite is that you tried to cram that painting's worth of detail into that tiny sprite, and a bit was lost in translation...