My first try at Birds!

I am pretty new to the photography thing. I recently got a rebel xt, I just bought a Canon 75-300 III USM. I am having a hard time getting it to focus all the time, or i am getting bad camera shake. I tried it out today and these were the best ones out of alot of bad pictures
If anyone has any suggestions I would love hear them. I need all the help I can get

Common Loon

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I find with this lense (or it may be my camera ) that when i press shutter half way it always focuses to the farthest then the closest before it actually gets a sharp focus even if the object was well focused or close to it when i started...it is also a pretty slow focusing lense...but in good light can give fair results...

Brandon

Thank you for your help

I have similar equipment and I lose opportunities sometimes as the camera zips back and forth trying to focus while the bird finally flies away. I can't print here what I say at some of those occasions, but in the end, I eventually get enough good shots to keep me clicking.

Good first efforts- keep on keeping on. Patience and persistence pay off.