Flight of the Blackbird (2)

EOS300D; ISO200;1/3200;f/5.6;40​0mm
Have no idea why the first didn't work. Oh well, if you like it or not,
please say why. Thanks.

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Good shot, but I'd like to see a bit more contrast.

I do not like it to much since the subject is not sharp at all.
Of course it is not easy to shoot a flying bird with a 400 mm lens

Yeah, it seems to me you have to be right up close to whatever you're
shooting at 400mm to have any hopes of getting details of your subject
into the photo. That's why I didn't crop this, but rather used the foliage
in an effort to equalize it with the bird as the subject. So, it's not really just the bird I'm trying to capture here, but also it flight through the trees.
I've pretty much given up any hopes of catching feathers in a bird-flight
shot. But I suppose now that I've said it, some joker'll post a fantastic picture
showing finely drawn feathers of an eagle or maybe a turkey buzzard
passing overhead. Oh, well. I wouldn't mind seeing that, really.

The trick to getting a sharp bird picture is finding a big slow moving bird that's flying in a predictable manner. You will drive yourself crazy trying to get a good picture of a blackbird darting through trees. Most all the good bird pictures I've seen are of a bird soaring on a thermal (slow moving) or flying in a straight line over a wide open space (predictable, easy to pan) or sitting on its nest (not moving). Also I have seen good takeoff shots where the photographer has the camera already focused and just waits for the bird to takeoff.

There's lots of birds flying around my property right now. The robins are nesting and lately there's been quite an airshow of the robins' defending
their egss and newborn from several buzzards that are lurking about.
Now, the buzzard is nice and big and flies slow and predictable, but the
problem with photographing them is that they fly too high for me to get a decent picture of them.

I have couple of geese pictures that I think look fine taken as a whole with
their surroundings, but are blurry when cropped. Two examples:

ISO 200; 1/800; f/10; 400mm

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the last 2 are extremely blury...

On the last two it appears your focus point was off about 10 meters, or your lens wasn't focusing fast enough. Try panning and see how the shots look.

Y'know, that's a good point, Mychevy. I don't think I pan when I shoot, or
if I do, I do only a little bit. I'll take that up next time I go shooting. I hope
that's the problem. But wouldn't I be panning automatically if I caught the
birds as central to the picture as I did? I had all seven focus points active, and to my untrained eye it looks as if there is focus on the near wing in the
top photo and on the goose's back in the lower one.

Let me ask Josh a question here: Do you own an EF 100-400mm lens? And
if you do, do you think you could have taken much sharper pictures than
those two? Where can I see something comparable?

Everything seems to have an equal amount of blur, plus 1/800 sec should be fast enough to freeze a goose at 40-50 meters if you're panning. Even one sitting on a race car going 100mph.
So, focus problem is what you probably have. Unless you're sure that the proper focus point lit when you started to take the pic, you might select a focus point manually (p.62) or use Sports Mode (p.41).

When shooting shots like these, use ONLY the center focus point. (In fact, ONE focus point is all I ever have on, with either our D60 or 10D). With all of them on, the camera can't seem to figure out which one to use fast enough. A 1D is much better at it, but even those bird shooters using a 1D usually only have the center focus point on. Give it at shot.

Look at the stick behind this flower Ani just planted today. This is with a Canon 400L/5.6 @5.6. Hand held, wobbling all over the place, no IS @ 1/350.

Notice what a difference only 6" in focusing distance makes.

Go to http://www.birdsasart.​com/bn.html and peruse some of Art's archived bulletins. Beautiful bird shots. Lots of good information on his website.