Birds in motion shutter speed

[Elliotte Rusty Harold]

What's a plausible shutter speed to freeze birds in motion? e.g. a running Sanderling or peep, or a feeding dowitcher? Judging from today's less than perfect photos, 1/1250s is not fast enough, and I probably should have pumped the ISO a stop or two, and maybe opened the aperture all the way up, even though I thought I had plenty enough light to shoot at f/6.3 and ISO 100 with shutter to spare. It was enough for the still birds, but the active birds range from a little to a lot blurry.

[Fabs Forns]

My minimum ISO for BIF is 400. Normal s/s are 2000 to 3200.
Unless light decides otherwise.

[Alfred Forns]

This year I have been using more shutter speed than usual, my standard (comfort) was 1/1600 but now try to get to 1/2500 if possible !!! Aperture will be wide open more often than not and will raise the ISO as needed !!

[Stu Bowie]

For the smaller birds ( faster flyers ) anything from 1/2500 @ F/5.6 iso 400 should get you pretty sharp detail in flight. The slower and larger birds, herons etc, 1/1600 upwards will get you good results. Good luck.

[Dave Blinder]

I could probably count on my hands the number of times I've photographed birds at ISO 100 at home in New Jersey. I'm generally at ISO 400 or higher in AV Mode. I would expect to use lower ISOs in most beach environments and places like California and Florida.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Depends on the bird but as a thumb rule, for flight shots better to have SS faster than 1/1600s. for small birds, even faster.

Even if they are not flying, birds can be in motion....bill movement when calling, for example. Shorebirds that are busy feeding need high SS as they are walking and moving their heads. Some ducks move their head all the time. Even if they are at one spot, they change their body angles a lot. If you want to capture unique poses, better to have high SS. Even on steady birds, its better to use high FPS for the same reason. I'll give you one example here. In the following shot, the SS was 1/3200( iso 400). In the 5 frames I got in one second, the tongue was out in only one.

[Arthur Morris]

1/1000 or 1/1600 is nice. 1/500 is generally thought of as the minimum with a 400, at times well slower can yield a sharp eye with some blurring in the wings. Some folks want super fast shutter speeds from 1/2500 sec. to 1/4000 sec. or more. I am not in that camp.

[Xristos Zo]

Do these recommendations work with most cameras and lenses or does it depend how well a certain camera performs with different ISO settings?

[Arthur Morris]

Focal length is a factor when hand holding; the longer the lens, the more shutter speed you will likely need. High ISO performance is not a factor at all.