Snipe in flight

with the severe frosts persisting a lot of Snipe are being forced into the open looking for frost free feeding areas so a good time to try some flight shots -- not the easiest species but a good challenge -- I am often baffled by the operation of camera AF systems -- the last two shots show the full frame image of the cropped one above them -- note where the central active AF point was at the time the snipe was in focus -- it is not even covered by any of the outer AF points -- just fire the shutter and hope