Thanks Ron.
No there's no bug eye mode. When I used to use Animal + Eye detect I would see it focus on the eye only if there was some catch light - otherwise the AF box could be around the head and or the body. In the end I found the most consistent results (and it's not set in stone - lots into the bin) were with animal detect off.
So the AF just sees an object and focuses on it. I would like to try out a Sony and an OM1 to see how they compare but baring winning the lottery that's unlikely to happen. But I really feel the extra time it takes for animal detect to work is a loss with these critters - not that there is any noticeable delay, it just doesn't seem to get as many in good focus.
I have discovered there are various situations to consider. First off I just don't bother trying to pan. Their movement is so random that they are more or less always going to fall out of the frame with a long tele. Then when they do hover, many of them continually move up/down, left/right and back and forwards. That is part of how they camouflage themselves by presenting a blur to their prey. My favourite, the Emerald really moves a lot when hovering and that is why I get many with motion blur or missed focus. So it just becomes a numbers game...
The Emperor above is one of the zoomers that rarely hovers. However when he does hover, he is really still, so presents a good target and as long as initial focus is more close than he is, it will normally grab ok.
