In this scenario pre-capture was handy to avoid capturing thousands of images of false starts because the goshawks were constantly making like they are about to jump as the doves/finches flew in to drink but were often just out of reach or diverted at the last minute when they spotted him/her.
However more important was the cameras ability to stick with the birds eye when they duck down just before jumping up, very close to and often just below the foreground rocks - super annoying finding just a sequence of in focus rocks, background or one of the doves/finches in the frame.
The a9iii seemed to stick better and re-acquire considerably more reliably than the other cameras.
