*Usually* the distraction means she needs to drop a bit more.
What we did was set up a baggy in a greenbelt in an area where we would be hunting, or like an area we'd be hunting. When Sgian was at weight, we'd slowly drive up. We never put her out the window. We might stop and let her see the prey, let her look around first, but always from inside the car. If she didn't fly at it, we'd back up, or circle back around and try it again. After three attempts, if she didn't, we stopped and called it done for the time being. I'd drop her another half gram and try again in a couple of hours.
It didn't take more than three times before she realized she got a warm, living meal by flying out the window, and a moving vehicle actually helped her. Her first starling was without having ever been bagged on one, and from a moving vehicle. Of course, slowing and stopping near starlings on the ground meant they bumped and she watched them fly off...so I think she realized if she didn't fly at them when we were moving, we missed her chance.
When we spot them, we'll slow down and give her a chance to clue in, target them, then we'd drive up on them. More often than not, she waits until we're right beside them OR just a little past them before she launches out the window at her target. I think she knows if they don't bump when we drive by, they won't pay too much attention if she flies out at them.
But do remember that I do not drive when hunting her. I have a designated driver and she flies out the passenger window. This is so I can bail out of the vehicle to help her without having to slam on the brakes, park the car, and then run toward her - and those precious seconds could very well mean success or failure because they will struggle and tussle, or worse...unseen predators coming to investigate the ruckus. Starlings in distress calls in cats, coops, and redtails, let alone crows who will try and drive your kbird off (I SO want a male Harris or redtail to try for crow hawking because of times where they harassed and driven off my kbird!). I bail out of a still moving vehicle every time, which drives my husband crazy. He's always telling me I need to wait until the vehicle stops...but I can't. She's had prey in her talons once and my taking time (large mud puddle she was wrestling the starling in and I had to wade through to get to her) and she let go. Another reason for not waiting was reinforced just this afternoon when she caught #33 and not ten feet from her was a cat, sitting there and watching. Had I not of been there a few seconds after she bound to the starling, it could have been disastrous. With her tussling and rolling around with the starling, she wasn't seeing anything.
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