Wildlife with G3 and 100-300

I continue practicing with the 100-300 I got a day and a half ago.  Went out to a nearby nature reserve today and saw some interesting things.  After today I'm totally convinced the 100-300 is a HUGE step up from the 14-140 I had been using (at least for wildlife shooting).  One thing I've noticed though is the pinpoint focusing is far more difficult to use with the 100-300 than it is with the 14-140.  Single point (1-area) focus is working much better for me.  Even when the focus box is slightly larger than the subject, it still hits pretty well.  Pinpoint has become very unreliable for me.

All pics were taken in RAW and processed in LR3.6.  They were taken in coastal South Carolina.

What is this, a song sparrow?  Looks like one but none of my bird books show a yellow bar on the forehead

Male downy



Sweet dreams...

Now here's something I've never seen before!  5 wild baby alligators piled on top of each other!  They were between about 1 to 1.5 feet in length from nose to tail.

Favorite is the first picture.

Perhaps a Savannah Sparrow.

My wife also votes Savannah Sparrow.   (The yellow lores are quite variable.)

Thanks all! Just looked up Savannah Sparrow online and that definitely appears to be it.

No tripod, all hand held. I accidently left it at home

Thanks Mark! I will definitely try that focusing tip you mentioned.

Hi Howard, I appreciate the criticism. I had intended to take my tripod that day but just forgot it. I do plan to try it next weekend and see if I get better results. But to address some of the specific points...

First, discard the 5 alligator shot as that was just something interesting, not a good photo. There was no way for me to get into a good position, as evidenced by all the busy reeds in the foreground. For the others, all are crops from the original image, in some case for more reach and in others just to get a better composition. The birds move so fast I always just worry about getting them in focus and snapping, knowing I can adjust the composition in PP. The cropping no doubt comes at a cost of sharpness. Also, I have the 20mm and 45mm and I don't think the 100-300 will ever yield results as sharp as they can produce. All that said, you and others have offered some good feedback and techniques that I will experiment with and hopefully improve my results. You can be the judges, as I'll be sure to post my results in the future

Thanks again for looking and critiquing!