Hi sleipnerofasgard. Tricky this bird photography isn't it. I guess the bit that surprised me was that it doesn't matter how big your lens, what will give you a great picture is fieldcraft and of course, patience. Don't get me wrong, equipment matters a great deal and certainly helps. From your pictures it looks like you are just very slightly outside the optimum range for the lens and as the others have said, the kind of birds you are snapping are interesting and not overly common. Below is a shot of a stonechat that was taken yesterday. I used Canon 100-400mm lens on a 1D mark 3 body but there is still some noise because it was shot at 400mm. I find that 380mm creates better sharpness. In this case I needed to be closer. It was shot at 1/125, F5.6 with an ISO of 320. I also shot it in RAW which gives must more control before turning it to a jpeg. I will guarantee though, you will improve with every outing. Good luck.
