Thought I might as well get started here by posting a picture from last week. I hope this works..

Scott, I like the use of a slower shutter speed to blur the wing beat, while still keeping focus on the head and body.

Ahhhh, so Thats what I did.... Thanks for the reply Paul. I'm pretty new to all this and just lucked into that result, but I liked it.

nature photography takes a mix of skill and luck :) Your background is somewhat dark , therefore your camera exposed at a shutter speed in the 1/250th range(my educated guess). That speed will not stop a wing beat :)