Well, the sun was shining again today so I tried several of your suggestions...I still have a long way to go! Finally gave up on autofocus and started manually focusing on the feeder or a nearby branch, etc. and just tried to hit the shutter in anticipation of the birds. It will take me a little more time to get used to the AF-ON button for AF. Stopping down to get the larger DOF seemed to help a lot. I also tried to pay more attention to the patterns of where the birds were landing prior to the feeder like you suggested (it is at a State Park - so I can't really do much with what is already there!). I also tried a few with a flash (and a Better Beamer) - but nothing turned out.

I really appreciate the help!

Brian

70-200 2.8ii (no extender this time) 200mm ISO 500 f/7.1 1/1600 Manual focus


So much easier when they sit still!

300mm 4 ISO 320 f/6.3 1/1600 manual focus