Birds make great photography material and they are everywhere. To start off with you will need a long lens because they are small (generally) and you cannot always get close to them. Crop sensor cameras work best for bird photography. Autofocus is crucial so get a camera with great autofocus.

Just like taking photographs of people we need to make sure the eye is sharp. Other parts of the body can be soft and even out of focus, but the eye needs to be sharp. It is always nice to include some action in the image or to show their behavior.

          Settings wise, a large F.Stop is usually preferred as that will blur the background and make the bird stand out. We don't want anything distracting the viewer. Secondly a large F.Stop gives us a fast shutter speed which is necessary to get sharp images with long lenses. You may need to elevate your ISO to get a fast enough shutter speed. Typically you will want a shutter speed as fast as the focal length of your lens. So if you are shooting with a 600mm lens then you will want a shutter speed of at least 1/600th of a second. Modern lenses have stabilization built into them (or into the camera itself) which enables you to get sharp images with slower shutter speeds. This technology works well, but I would still advocate a pretty fast shutter speed.

          Get to know the bird's behavior so that you can predict what it is going to do so that you will be ready. You will need a lot of patience. Good light is still important. Go out there and try some bird photography.