[robski]

Mike you have to admire those who can get perfect hand held telephoto shots. I've tried and binned more shots than I care to mention. I get the results I want with a tripod and I don't mind lugging it. On my local patch not too many opportunities for Birds in Flight shots.

I sometimes practice on the Black Headed Gulls when folk feed the wildfowl in the park.

My research and calculations basically show that camera shake is more apparent with crop cameras. A 5 pixel shake on full frame becomes an 8 pixel shake on a 1.6 crop camera. Therefore the perceived wisdom to use a higher shutter speed seems good advice.