Hi Alan,
For shots into bright or sunny skies, where possible and as long as you can get within a decent distance.
Try taking the exposure of the sky and using flash to light the subject, in most DSLR's this can be done within a few seconds.
This means your background won't be blown out and you get a decent exposure on the subject.
Only down side is alot of birds in the wild may get spooked, so you may only get one or two chances.
Hope this helps some what.
