Help with BIF techniques for Small Super-Fast Birds
For the last 2 months I have been photographing my local burrowing owls. In the short time I've been photographing birds, I have to say that these guys are the fastest and hardest birds to capture in flight that I've encountered, given their size and sheer speed (right up there with the pileated woodys).
I've tried with the 400mm 5.6L and 500 4.0L and I've tried with the 7D and 1d Mark II. While I've gotten a few keepers, I must say that over 95% of the images are oof, not sharp/blurred; or total miss. My problem is getting the bird in the viewfinder and locked before he's out of position. Ironically, the shots where I did get a decent shot was when all of a sudden, the owl flew directly at me when he got spooked by a car driving behind him. What sucked, is that while he was sharp, I didn't have a clean background (had oof yellow tape and the sidewalk) in the image.
I've tried prefocusing the lens when they are perched and wait and as soon as they take off, and I move the lens around to get the bird in the proper position to me and in focus, the majority of time, if I do get a lock, I'm photographing the owl's butt. It's exhausting, especially when I'm handholding as I at times just hold the camera/lens with the owl in the viewfinder and wait for him to take off. Unlike other birds, that you can see them coming, and you have time to lock on this until they get into position, with these guys, their flight paths are short (usually from burrow to tree or wood post) and they fly at supersonic speed.
I'm just curious as to some of you BIF beasts out there handle similar situation (and I'd like to know if you think there's a more difficult bird than the burrowing owl to capture in flight)