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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gordthelord" data-source="post: 1192357" data-attributes="member: 63766">Hi folks, I'm after a bit of advice or reassurance. I have been trying to photograph birds in flight for a couple of months, (since I got my lovely 400mm 5.6 lens). I use this lens on my 400D and have some quite good shots. However, I find that the af is fast and pretty spot on when the bird flies past a featureless back ground like sky, but I have problems whenever a bird flies in front of a wooded back ground or something else that the lens can focus on.I use the Al servo setting, select all af points and use evaluative metering. I keep the shutter half depressed  while I,m trying to track the bird using the central af point. Even if the camera focuses on the bird intially it loses it as soon as it passes in front of a background that contains features. I noticed this particularly when trying to photograph common tern over my local fishing lakes. Admittedly this problem was highlighted when the terns were furthest away from me at the other end of the lake, (60-70 yds).Am I doing something basically wrong, is this to be expected or is there something else that could be amiss?I'd be grateful for any tips or advice.Thanks, Gordon.</blockquote>