This shot is a testament to the camera and lens (select "info" to see the camera information). The bird was just a moving dark speck against the bright sky and I had only seconds to get the picture. I had the lens at full zoom, the autofocus locked on and the Nikon nailed the shot. I still had to crop the picture to get in this close, which I was able to do thanks to the camera's 24.1 megapixel sensor.