When photographing perched/feeding birds, you should be able to use a slower shutter speed than 1/1000. I recommend you start at 1/500 and work your way down the list with slower and slower shutter speeds. When you get to 1/100 and slower, focus on painting the bird's head with the active AF point and track the bird's movements. At really slow shutter speeds, there may be some motion blur in the body and wings, but if the head and eyes are sharp, you will capture some really interesting shots.
At 1/500 and slower, I recommend shooting with VR switched to ON. If you're shooting, handheld while standing, the Normal mode really steadies the image in the viewfinder. Of course, you have the option to lean against something for greater support or to shoot handheld from a seated position. This might be on a collapsible stool, or on your bottom with your back against something and knees tucked up. Being seated will get you away from a standing position (any opportunity to not be standing gives you an opportunity to shoot from a more interesting angle.) and provides a platform for supporting the weight of the camera and lens. You might also consider using a monopod. VR can still be active but you may want to use the Sport mode, which is better-suited to erratically moving subjects and produces less image shift between shutter actuations.
I recommend single-point AF for perched birds, static and slower moving subjects. Paint the eye/head with that active AF point. 9-point AF works well for birds in flight, erratic and faster subjects. At least, this has been my experience with the Multi-CAM 4800 FX module in the D610. The Advanced Multi-CAM 3500 DXII module in the D7200 may have a different performance profile...it's always good to experiment with these things to determine where the sweet spots in performance are, depending on your subject.
Another setting to experiment with is A3 Focus Tracking with Lock-on. This determines how tenaciously your camera's AF will stick with a subject once it's acquired focus. There are settings from 1 to 5, with 1 forcing the AF system to re-acquire focus at any hint of losing lock on a subject and 5 forcing the AF system to ignore loss of lock for 2-3 seconds before attempt to re-acquire. I tend to keep my A3 set to the default 3 position and will pulse my back-button focus. Releasing pressure on the focus button immediately resets the system so, when you again apply pressure, the AF module will reacquire.
It's been a useful technique with my D610. That said, your camera's AF module may do a better job of continuously tracking or reacquiring, as needed.
Good luck and have fun.
At 1/500 and slower, I recommend shooting with VR switched to ON. If you're shooting, handheld while standing, the Normal mode really steadies the image in the viewfinder. Of course, you have the option to lean against something for greater support or to shoot handheld from a seated position. This might be on a collapsible stool, or on your bottom with your back against something and knees tucked up. Being seated will get you away from a standing position (any opportunity to not be standing gives you an opportunity to shoot from a more interesting angle.) and provides a platform for supporting the weight of the camera and lens. You might also consider using a monopod. VR can still be active but you may want to use the Sport mode, which is better-suited to erratically moving subjects and produces less image shift between shutter actuations.
I recommend single-point AF for perched birds, static and slower moving subjects. Paint the eye/head with that active AF point. 9-point AF works well for birds in flight, erratic and faster subjects. At least, this has been my experience with the Multi-CAM 4800 FX module in the D610. The Advanced Multi-CAM 3500 DXII module in the D7200 may have a different performance profile...it's always good to experiment with these things to determine where the sweet spots in performance are, depending on your subject.
Another setting to experiment with is A3 Focus Tracking with Lock-on. This determines how tenaciously your camera's AF will stick with a subject once it's acquired focus. There are settings from 1 to 5, with 1 forcing the AF system to re-acquire focus at any hint of losing lock on a subject and 5 forcing the AF system to ignore loss of lock for 2-3 seconds before attempt to re-acquire. I tend to keep my A3 set to the default 3 position and will pulse my back-button focus. Releasing pressure on the focus button immediately resets the system so, when you again apply pressure, the AF module will reacquire.
It's been a useful technique with my D610. That said, your camera's AF module may do a better job of continuously tracking or reacquiring, as needed.
Good luck and have fun.
