Auto Capture AF issues - moving water may be it.

[Hooligans Imagery]

In AC there is no choice for Bird, just animal. After reviewing my images from yesterday I can only conclude that the moving water tricks the AF, but I would have thought that Animal would have held the bird better. Z9 with Z100-400.
AC set to Distance and Animal Detect. Here with a Cardinal and Black Throated Sparrow from one frame to the next it lost focus. The Sparrow barely moved. The Cardinal a bit more.
I will say it seemed to do better with a larger quail so it could be the size of the bird. First image shows the entire frame and others are zoomed in so you can see better.

If any of you have another ideas let me know.

I am going to try tomorrow to use Auto AF which allows me to block off the Target Area of the fountain.

Cardinal in Focus

Cardinal out of focus

Sparrow in Focus

Sparrow out of focus

 

[DRwyoming]

That sparrow is pretty small in the frame for reliable subject detection which won't help the auto capture especially in the first image. Not surprised the moving water might trigger auto capture releases especially if the subject isn't properly detected.

Given that it's auto capture and you don't need to stay with the camera I'd try moving the camera in and setting up a smaller target area so the birds will be larger in the frame. Blocking off the fountain/perch makes sense as well.

 

[Hooligans Imagery]

Interesting thing is the water didn't trigger release when a bird wasn't present. In these images the camera seemed to lose focus when the bird moved and it picked up the water. I will try going closer tomorrow for sure. I may also use the Plena.