I prefer stop action images of certain explosive action and behaviors, almost all of the time. I learned through experience that higher shutter speeds than I initially thought would be necessary.
Male Wood Duck Burst Takeoff – wings blurred (1/4000 sec, F 7.1, ISO 500, 600mm)
The duck in the image above is just about to lift off. Wood Ducks take off into flight on about a 45 degree angle and it is a very explosive and powerful action. The action of fighting ducks can be consistently stopped at 1/4000 sec (I prefer 1/5000 sec), but not the burst takeoff. The images above and below were ones that proved this to me – the wings are blurry at 1/4000 sec in both. If the point at which the wings hit their top position or bottom position were captured, 1/4000 sec, or even a much slower shutter speed, would suffice. But the chances of hitting that moment in time exactly are very slim when shooting at 20 fps (frames per second) or less.
Male Wood Duck Burst Takeoff 2 – wings blurred (1/4000 sec, F 8, ISO 3200, 600mm)
Male Wood Duck Burst Takeoff 2 – wings slightly blurred (1/5000 sec, F 10, ISO 4000, 600mm)
The wings are slightly blurred at 1/5000 sec above.
Male Blue-winged Teal Burst Takeoff – wings blurred (1/4000 sec, F 7.1, ISO 640, 600mm)
The image above demonstrates the launch angle, but the wings are very blurred at 1/4000 sec.
Male Blue-winged Teal Burst Takeoff 2 – wings slightly blurred (1/5000 sec, F 11, ISO 4000, 840mm)
The wings are less blurred at 1/5000 sec in the image above.
Sharp-shinned Hawk – wings blurred (1/4000 sec, F 6.3, ISO 800, 600mm)
The hawk in the above image was a small one and they burst into flight very explosively at times – here it was dive bombed by another Sharp-shinned Hawk. 1/4000 sec was not near sufficient to stop the wings.
Sharp-shinned Hawk – wings sharp (1/6400 sec, F 8, ISO 5000, 600mm)
Above, at 1/6400 sec the wings are sharp enough.
Sharp-shinned Hawk – wings sharp (1/8000 sec, F 9, ISO 4000, 600mm)
At 1/8000 sec above the wings are very sharp.
Sharp-tailed Grouse Fighting (1/8000 sec, F 9, ISO 3200, 600mm)
Sharp-tailed Grouse fights are very explosive. I prefer to use 1/8000 sec (when lighting conditions permit).
Female American Kestrel Feeding Nestling (1/6400 sec, F 10, ISO 4000, 600mm)
I found that 1/6400 sec was needed to consistently stop the action at the nest above. The smaller male sometimes needed 1/8000 sec.
Male Eastern Bluebird Landing with Caterpillar (1/8000 sec, F 7.1, ISO 5000, 600mm)
1/8000 sec was needed for Bluebirds flying in or leaving.
Male Northern Flicker Landing at Nest (1/6400 sec, F 13, ISO 14000, 600mm)
1/6400 sec was enough for flickers landing.