Red-winged Blackbird #3 in series.

Is it distracting that the tail and leading wing are the area of

sharpest focus, moreso than the head? What do you think?

Yes, I find it a little distracting. I have some shots like that and I also have a D70. So now I mostly preset the exposure mode to Aperture-Priority Auto [A] using something like f16 or less. If there is time I can of course work the settings, if not I just shoot and sometimes I get a good photograph with sufficient dof. On the other hand you got a nice background for your blackbird thanks to the narrow dof so there is always compromise to be taken, isn't it. 6/5