I remember watching a BBC special about photographers and how they’re taking images in the wild. Specifically, one of the photographers say that in order to shoot good photos, you have to have the eye in focus. This is a big lie — and it’s often nearly impossible to do with today’s cameras and with the way that birds move. Rarely do they often stay in one place if they’re small. On top of that, their heads are usually obscured by leaves, branches, etc. If you tell your camera to focus on the bird’s eye, it will probably end up focusing on the leaves in front of it instead. So what do you do?
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The answer is simple: focus on the bird’s head. This may mean the beak, the feathers, etc. The depth of field of the lenses that you’re using is often enough to get the whole head in focus. That will obviously include the eyes too.
For the record, this is the case even with some of the most advanced cameras around like the Sony a9 III.
Focusing on a bigger object like the head will make keeping the bird in focus a whole lot easier. Focusing on the neck, depending on the type of bird, could also work wonders.
This works mostly with smaller birds. Bigger birds tend to stay in one place for a while and don’t move around as skittishly as small birds.
Just think about it, have you ever looked at a sparrow and noticed how it’s constantly moving its head around and even physically turning? It’s also usually hopping about as if it’s got something to do. This is far different from a pelican or a crane that can sometimes just sit around and do little to nothing.
So if you’re photographing smaller birds, don’t try to focus on the eye. I’d even say the same thing about larger birds. Go for the head and only go for the eye if it’s really available and you’ve got the confidence to get the shot.