I'm really new to photography and am looking for advice on the settings I should use while taking photos of wildlife from a helicopter. Basically, we are out in the helicopter from dawn to dusk, but mostly bright daylight. There is also a lot of snow, which makes it brighter. The helicopter is moving quite fast when we approach the animal, and we vary in distance from far to quite close (note: this is for biology research, not just harassing wildlife).

The automatic setting doesn't work well for this. I've tried around 1/1250, iso 400, f5.6 which turned out alright but not great. I have a lens that isn't great with distance stuff (Canon 55-250mm f 4-5.6)... I think a lot of my photos will be reduced quality no matter what, as the helicopter is zooming all over the place, the animal is running, and I'm taking photos through the window. Any advice?