I use a point-and-shoot camera, so it automatically focuses for me. My efforts to try to get something in focus and out of focus at the same time didn’t work. That’s why I use a camera that already knows what it is doing.
Instead, here are two photos taken of the exact same spot: the top of the utility pole in our front yard (about a month apart, time-wise). The first photo, the Crested Caracara, was taken with a my old camera, a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH20 with 8x optical zoom. The second photo, the Harris Hawk, was taken with my new camera, a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS25 with 20x optical zoom.
Crested Caracara
Harris Hawk
Weekly Photo Challenge: Focus
It's a long story ... 
Too bad you didn’t have better light for the caracara picture, but your new camera certainly has a better zoom.
Yes, I wish the weather had been comparable for both photos.