Well, in order to get good results, you'll have to make the plunge into non-auto settings. I'd recommend Manual mode.

The problem you're running into here is that you are pointing your camera at a bird in the sky, which is bright. Camera meters are set up to try and make every exposure a uniform grey in terms of brightness. So if you point your camera at something white, it will underexpose the shot, and if you point it at something black, it will overexpose it.

A day time sky is to all intents and purposes nearly white in terms of brightness, as far as the camera's meter is concerned. So, when you point your camera at the sky, it's going to underexpose the shot. That means anything darker than the sky, like a bird, is going to likewise be underexposed, as you've seen. This is why the shot of the bird with the buildings in the background is exposed better - the background is about as bright as the bird, so the meter didn't get confused.

What's the solution? Stop the camera making the decision, or at least fool it in to making the correct one. It's easy. The first thing to do is set your camera in Manual (M) mode. Now, point it at the right thing - not the bird (or the sky, as far as the camera is concerned), but the ground. Why the ground? Because the light falling on the ground is the same light that's falling on the bird. So the ground and the bird will both need approximately the same exposure settings to be properly exposed.

So, point your camera at the ground and keep doing that while you adjust your settings. You have three to adjust: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO. Let's go through them. As you adjust each setting, note the exposure meter at the bottom of your viewfinder. We want the meter to be at 0, in the middle, not to either the + or - side:

• Aperture: on your kit lenses, you will get better image quality if you close the aperture a little from its maximum. f/8 is a good starting point, so dial that in.

• Shutter Speed: you'll want to freeze any motion the bird makes like turning its head or flapping its wings. Bird motion tends to be quite fast, so you'll want a shutter of speed of at least 1/500. Dial that in.

• ISO: here's where we nail the exposure. Because we have set our other two variables, aperture and shutter speed, we now adjust our ISO to get the meter in the viewfinder to 0. If the meter is showing overexposure (+), reduce your ISO. If it's showing underexposure (-) increase your ISO.

When the meter is at 0, you're ready to shoot - fire away at the birds! You'll probably see that the sky looks very bright: that's fine, because you should also see that the bird is correctly exposed too. Of course, the light might change, or the bird might be moving very fast, so you can always adjust your settings a little from the base exposure you took from the ground before.

As a final point, I would absolutely recommend using RAW, not JPEG. It will give you much more leeway to edit your shots to perfection afterwards. Also, to head the pedants off at Nitpick Pass, yes, I know about spot metering, but manual exposure for the ground (whatever meter mode you choose) is a heck of a lot easier than trying to spot meter a moving bird. Also, yes, the light isn't exactly the same, especially when you're directly below, but the high dynamic range on sensors these days means it's as near as damn it.