What shutter speed & aperture did you use on the pigeon ones? I tried doing something similar a few weeks ago but failed miserably, it was a dull day though so perhaps the natural light wasn't good enough.
It would depend on the light, if its a bit dull, set your ISO to 400 or higher and set your apeture to the lowest number.If your shutter speed is less that 1/30 then the image will most probably have camera shake.
If its still to dull, use your flash and set your shutter speed to 1/60
He he he .... many moons ago I had to choose the film speed and stick with it. It is so much easier nowadays
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To capture birds it will have to be AT LEAST 1/500 s ... preferably 1/1000 s
alter the aperture and ISO to gain these kind of numbers, and if you are using a zoom try not to use it! keep it at the smallest end.

hope this helps?