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@ Jorge:
This was a general reply, but no comment on your photos ;-)

But you shouldn?t compare taking photos in Portugal and Central Europe, where you don?t have sun for weeks. If you use a flash in a bright situation, you will not have problems with the background, only problems with reflections on the animal.

If you use a mirror (refector) in a shadow situation, you can light dark parts of the animal. Example: You are in dark forest, aperture f8 or smaller, long exposure time 2 sec. and longer. This can be usefull for identification, but it?s useful for your camera too, to reduce also the light parts of the picture.

@ frightening in wildlife situations:
Move slow, slow as the leaves in the wind. The camera and the photographer will merge with the environment ;-)
But one observation: Some insects are frightened by my Canon camera. I think it?s the USM (ultra sonics motor) producing dangerous predator sounds. So sometimes it?s better to use the manual focus.

Best regards
Frank