Bringing out the details

I'm hoping those of you more experienced in photo processing can teach other how to get the most out of their photos.  One of my biggest hurdles is black animals or birds; I feel like I see more detail with my naked eye that is lost in the photo.  I can do basic editing with exposure and cropping, but fiddling with levels and contrast always make me feel inadequate.  Any advice for things like that?

Here's an example of what I think is a muddy looking photo.

Levels is the way to go. Don't be worried by it, maybe make a copy of the original so you always have that to fall back on. In essence, what it does it changes the mid tones, so by sliding to the left you'll keep your darks and your lights, but lighten the mid tones. That (I find) reduces the 'grey area' and allows the definition of the dark to light to come through more.

I'm short on time for the next few days (travelling) but will get back to you at the end of the week if you like. See how you go with that for the time being, though.