Editing too much?

Recent discussion has been posted concerning editing, or specifically AI editing. There are other types of editing that significantly alter an image. This is an example. I will post another version of this same image. See which you prefer, or if you have any objections. This is an image of an Andean Motmot, taken in Colombia. Motmots are a large family of birds that are common in the Neotropics and are high on the list of any birdwatcher or photographer in these areas. Very endearing to photographers, Motmots often perch quietly on a horizontal branch and “tick tock” their distinctive tails for long periods of time. This allows many images to be taken. The bad news is that often these perches are in dark areas of the trees, with bright light shining through in the background. In this shot, I used the Clone Stamp in Photoshop with the Opacity set at 45% and cloned over the very bright areas in the BG. Is this too much editing? Certainly it changed the appearance and changed the “feeling of place”.