Originally posted by awscreo Why wouldn't af work in this situation?
Because you have to get a focus point on the bird and lock focus. With Hyperlocal you set the distance on the lens and shoot without regard to where the focus points are. I use the technique with AF, I focus on the hunmming bird feeder on the plane where I expect the bird to be. Set the camera to MF and wait until the bird shows up in the spot I expect and then shoot a burst. Even if the bird is outside the area defined by AF points, I'll get him in focus. No checking focus while the bird moves off, no messing around trying to get a focus point on the bird.
It's really tough to track a humming bird in your viewfinder, same with many other small birds, but you can get images by understanding MF and hyperlocal distances.
This usually isn't my first choice of obtaining images, but if locking focus and shooting aburt isn't working because a bird is too flighty, this might work. It should be in your arsenal.