The yellow to red fade is fantastic, but I think the model would really *pop* if the grey of the rest of the body were done in a more contrasting color or two. Perhaps a blue -> purple transition, or green -> blue? Another thought would be to paint the remining "bird" pieces like a real hawk or eagle. That might add something to this piece, these unnatural chaos parts springing from a normal bird form.
not sure what you mean about the boring colors, I thought the yellow with red hands was quite dramatic :) I guess I could have gone all rainbow with the wings but it didn't seem like the right decision against such a bright body.