EOS R1 Why didn't Eye Detection and Focus work?

[DhandaNot]

I am sharing a few of the images from a burst I took. The light is good, the flying bird is in front of the camera. However R1 (with EF 500 F4 IS ii with1.4 X IS iii) is unable to detect the eye and focus properly on the raptor. Some of the images show the focus obtained on the bird, but that too is not in focus.

What could be the issues here. I know the bird is not very big in the frame, However, I have seen the camera capture the eye at similar distances.

[DhandaNot]

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[DhandaNot]

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[DhandaNot]

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[DhandaNot]

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[DhandaNot]

Here are the details of focus point and camera settings. 

[DhandaNot]

Why is the camera not able to detect the eye?

[DhandaNot]

Here we can see the focus point is close to the eye.

But the bird is not in focus. Very confusing.

[DhandaNot]

This is a similar image where the eye is again not detected but the bird and the eye are both in focus. What is confusing is that some images worked well and others did not. 

[pcs1]

(I can see the screenshots, not the actual jpgs(you've attached them, you can post them directly))

The distance is just too great, the eye is too small in the frame. Sometimes the head is in the shadow of the wings which makes it even harder. I use as a rule of thumb: if I can't see the eye(clearly) in the viewfinder while shooting the camera AF won't either. In this case the AF algorithms search eye->head->upper body(? for humans, don't know for animals)->whole body. 

What also doesn't help here are the conditions, heat haze/atmospheric distortions also affect the AF system.

I think you need to lower your expectations, the R1 is good but not infallible.

Try to get closer(physical, not with a longer lens) and try under better conditions. The better my gear got, the more I realised the light/shooting conditions are at least as important.

[DhandaNot]

I have shared the JPGs now. But I have not seen any responses from experts here.