Photoshop and Rainy-day Frustrations

I have been trying to learn how to use the various selection tools in photoshop in order to create layer masks.  I really struggle with this.  I watched a tutorial this morning about changing backgrounds and then proceeded to give it a try with this image of a Mockingbird that had a very busy background.  It was a struggle to outline the bird and twig.  If anyone has any tricks to share or preferences as to which selection tool they find easier, I sure would love to hear about it.  I find this very difficult.  

In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have cropped the bird quite so much as it seems to overwhelm the background. Or perhaps I should have picked a different background.  I actually had no intentions of using this for my blip, but it rained pretty heavily this afternoon, so this is all I've got.  

We are very water-logged.  There is serious flooding to the north of us in Pennsylvania and we have been under a flash flood warning for days.  The biggest threat now is trees toppling because of the saturated soil.  Thankfully, no rain is predicted for tomorrow.