This is another shot I took yesterday. I am practicing on the sea gulls to get ready for some "birds of prey" action which I am hoping to start capturing this spring. One would need to practice on birds that are readily available, like the sea gulls before the big day with the birds of prey :) Camera data is included for those interested. Here are some tips that I can offer: For a shot like this, taken against the bright sky, the camera should be set up to Aperture Priority. Focus mode should be AI SERVO (in canon's world). ISO of 200 or 400 will give you around 1/1000 s of a shutter speed which is plenty to freez the action of these slow moving birds. A fast lens f4.0 or faster will help obtain the initial focus much faster due to higher amout of light hitting the camera's mirror. I normally start focusing on a bird while it is far away and keep it in focus until it comes closer. I won't take the shot until it is close enough to see his eyes and head clearly in the view-finder. Most times, the bird will change its direction and will not come toward you. That is part of the fun of this game. You start all ove again with another bird far away. Most importanly, the camera's meter should be set up to over-expose by at least 1 to 1 1/2 stops (OV = +1). If you do not set this over-exposure, the sky is so bright that the camera is going to use a really high shutter speed to cut down on the light entering the lens. This will give you nice blue sky, but a completly dark subject, the bird, which is not what you want. The sky here is white due to it being over-exposed but I don't care about the sky, I care about the subject, the bird. For this shot, I set the OV to +1 1/3. I hope this helps... People such as Danny (Danob) and Jim (nameless-wildness) are the experts in this area and I certainly look up to them. Thank you for viewing