a big stretch

Am trying something new and hopes this comes through properly.

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This seems very noisy.

yeah, that was what I was trying to avoid. Obviously, my attempt didn't work. Back to the drawing board.
Sigh

Could you post some EXIF and camera/lens details, please Nancy?

We might be able to figure out what's going on here...

My first guess is that you're shooting at too low an ISO for the available light then trying to brighten the picture in PP.

I don't know what the heck I did with the EXIF, Keith - it's been a crazy week (we're in the process of moving).
I know the ISO was high enough - I'm almost positive it was 400. In fact, I thought maybe it was too high, so I've spent the morning trying things with 100 and 200 (but nothing noteworthy to show for it). At one point, I even tried setting to an 800 ISO.
I can tell you that it was in aperature mode, set at 8.0, with whatever shutterspeed that produced. I tried a going to a 7.3 or wider f-stop, but then the light flashed, indicating the camera couldn't focus.
I tried going to manual focus, but the critters were too quick for me.

Maybe I should have tried some fill flash?

Today I tried to shoot some squirrels in the same tree under the same general conditions. In desperation, I turned the camera to the pre-set settings and tried that - haven't had a chance to take a look-see, but the chimp looked promising. If anyone needs more photos of squirrels. <g>

forgot to mention - was taken with the Rebel XT and the 100-400 f/5.6 IS. Much good it does me.