So, still no luck on the flying bird although my canon did much better and I’m almost there (might post it another day), BUT had much better luck with birds that weren’t in flight.  Still not awesomely in focus – but I attempted to use the tracking focus and I think because I did the pictures came out better than they would have.  The 1st three in the series are of a (I think) red winged black bird and there was always motion because he was perched on a reed on a windy day.   I put this in the order I did because

– the 1st one looks like he’s getting ready, taking a deep breath and I like that with his eyes shut it almost looks like he doesn’t have a face

– the 2nd one is him calling and showing off (he did this repeatedly so I think he just realized he’s late for Valentines day and doesn’t have a date

– the 3rd one I like to think is him taking a bow

the next two are just a couple of other friends that took time to pose.