Swan and a Ugly thingy!!!

Hi all,
Visited the Blackbrook zoological park today. Deserate to try and get soe decent shots with my 40d. I'm not one to photo captive birds as a rule but i need to get some experience with the new body.
Light reasonable but went with iso 400 av mode f7.1 with my 70-200f4L is. Recent shots have looked ok on the camera but then always seem to turn out on the soft side or missed focal point. Left my 1.4x tc off as well see if that makes a difference.

These were the best out of the bunch.

Thanks for viewing and any comments or advice.

1 Swan (Said Bewick's on the sign but the bill looked more like Whooper to me)

The Stork needs a hair dresser

Phyllis Diller

That really is an ugly bird,but nice capture.

#2 reminds me of my grandma lol! Great job on both!

Dude that chick is hot. Great stuff!

Nice, sharp shots here Phil! See my PM to you!

Thanks for the comments i appreciate them

Phil, I have had a couple of IS lenses, and never liked them. Luck of the draw or whatever, I never saw a really sharp shot from any of them. I was beginning to believe that line about needing to get use to the lens. And then I sold them and got non-is versions and now, when I take reasonable precautions, like using a tripod, I get sharp shots all the time. Just saying, cause of all my lenses, the 70-200 non IS is my sharpest.

Thanks Mitch,
This lens is the one i used with my 350 and got some decent results.
I haven,t done much shooting with the 40 after the initial dissapointment. Bad weather, short time etc. etc. You know the excuses. Maybe i just need to get out and shoot a bit more.

Don King of the bird world