Bird photography and composition?

Hi everyone!I'm new to photography, got my camera a few months ago and I'm still learning the basics. I'm mostly interested in wildlife photography (birds) and astro.Anyways, today I had some free time and went on to take some pics, which came out nice enough. Now i'm at home and one thing I'm still working on is how to get a good composition.I'm aware of the rule of thirds, and I try to apply it on my photos, but most bird photographers I follow seem to center the birds in their pictures, so my question is...How important is the rule of thirds when photographing birds?Here are some examples of a Asthenes anthoides I took today:subject to the left; centered subjectI know they're not the sharpest (I'm shooting with a Nikor 55-300 handheld) and still working on my posture.Personally I like the off-centered one, but I'm still undecided. What do you guys think?Thanks for your input! via /r/photography https://ift.tt/2MSGEKw