I got a camera last summer and tried to practice every day to make it work as best as it can. I’m not a pro photographer - i just started, but i’ll share with you my (brief) experience.
You need lots of zoom, best if it’s optical. Birds see you as an angry monkey trying to kill them everytime, no matter what you think about it, looking at them is menacing xD
One of the most useful settings i use on my camera (canon sx740 hs) is a central autofocus, in this way you can spot the bird and not worry about the standard autofocus focussing random spots of the frame you don’t want.
Another thing i found extremely helpful is that some of them don’t care at all about cars. Sometimes you can just chill on your car driving around and looking throught the windows until you spot a bird. Stop your car on the road side and slowly open the window as little as you need. Of course, be careful to look at the road, better if someone else drives and you look around.
Move slowly. This summer i was able to capture insane cool shots of a kestrel (falco tinnunculus) preaying on a vole. She was perching on a fence in an open field, so i couldn’t get close without her watching me. So i tried to make myself looking interested into grazing the grass and almost digging around until i got close enough and stopped to take the pictures. They way you move and your beahaviour (stay silent!) is very important.
If you need more technical tips about how to shoot, there are plenty of tutorials on youtube you can watch.
Good luck with your observations!