If you shoot Nikon and are looking at longer glass options you may want to consider the new Nikkor 200-500 VR. I am very favorably impressed with it and while $1,400 is a lot (to me anyway) to spend on a lens I would do it again in a heartbeat. The VR is exceptional and the image quality wide open is great too. There are owners of the Nikkor 200-400 f/4 ($7,000 lens) who are selling them after buying the 200-500 as they can't really tell any difference in image quality.
My prior bird lens was the 300 f/4 non-stabilized Nikon. This new lens absolutely allows me to get images that I could not otherwise. Not becuase of the reach but because of the stabilization.
My only complaint is that this thing is big, weighing nearly 5 pounds by itself.
This was shot handheld at 500mm. It's one of 3 frames and all were good but this was the best of the three.
handheld moon by Flcrutch, on Flickr
My prior bird lens was the 300 f/4 non-stabilized Nikon. This new lens absolutely allows me to get images that I could not otherwise. Not becuase of the reach but because of the stabilization.
My only complaint is that this thing is big, weighing nearly 5 pounds by itself.
This was shot handheld at 500mm. It's one of 3 frames and all were good but this was the best of the three.
handheld moon by Flcrutch, on Flickr