Yes patience is a big factor.
I'm not really a "birder" though I must admit I am becoming one.
I come from doing a lot of spots and landscape photography, but I just love to get out into the bush around town, mostly just to get out of the house for a break ... I'm slef employed and work from home, so getting out is easy, and a bit of a walk around is nice, plus I got out to take landscapes .... in between birds come around so I keep a tele handy also.
I find stalking the prey enjoyable .. as I only have a short lens, I have to get close, and it's the hunt to get close I enjoy ... if I had say an 800 with a 2x and crop camera, I could sit in my lounge room and get the shot, but a short lens make me work for the shot.
I have recently met a birder who has just moved down here, and he posts shots up on the facebook page of the IBOC site, he is putting up shots of all these birds I have hardly even heard of ...
This takes me to what I wanted to say .... this guy knows all the habits of the birds and can pretty must rock up at the right time or he knows where to look for them.
So knowing your birds, or what ever it is you are looking for is a big part of being able to get the shot.
I am learning a lot about our local wildlife now and starting to know where to look for them.
In fact last week I found a southern Boobook nest from knowing a little bit about where they would nest.
The next test is to get a shot of it at night flying ...
I saw a youtube video interview of two young wildlife photographers of the year, this one young guy shoots wildlife with a wide angle lens ...
His winning shot was of an owl swooping down to get a mouse he had placed on the camera and triggered with a remote ... I so want a shot like that..
Anyway, get to know your subject ... and then have patience.
