goose hitting the water

nice, but the exposure looks off in the first one

what would you set it at i tried so many and cant tell when i am out if its good or not till i get home and by then its too late

Hi Billy,

Welcome to Birds Forum!
The location looks like a great place for bird photography. As Rick pointed out, #1 the subject is underexposed. This is due to the backlit situation. Normally bird photogs try to avoid having the subject(bird) in between the sun and the camera. The best is putting the sun behind your back, slightly over a shoulder. But everything has exception, right? The make the best out of a backlit situation, use the Exposure Compensation (in Av or Tv mode) to counter the background's exposure. If you do full automatic, the camera will NOT know to do that. So, you need to either use semi-auto, or full manual, to achieve correct exposure on your subject.
Good thing is, it's digital, making the mistakes less expensive than what it used to cost back in the film days . So, keep trying and posting.

The cool thing on the first is that it appears there is a wing imprint on the entry.... I agree on settings with CFC and try to compensate. Im by no means an expert but on a sunny day, if your shadow is not infront of you, start messing with it