Need help from Bird photographers

[Biswajit]

Hi all,
I am planning to buy a Telephoto lens for Bird photography. My budget is around $1500. I have a Nikon D5100. I have two lens in my mind, Sigma 150 - 500mm, and Nikon 300mm F4. I more bent towards Nikon 300mm prime, for its sharpness and pricing.
But I have a doubt about the ease of using fixed focus lens for bird photography. Is it hard to find birds using the viewfinder for fixed focus lens ?
I would really appreciate inputs from people having experience in bird photography.
Thanks in advance.

Biswajit

[David Stephens]

You'll soon obtain the skill required to aim a 300mm lens and hit your target immediately. I often do it now with 500mm, 700mm and 1,000mm set ups, but it took practice. Unfortunately, 300mm is short for much bird photography. 500mm is much better for smaller birds and distant birds. The 300mm will be sharper, but then you'll crop your image more severely and throw away a bunch of good pixels.

[van bogaert erik]

when you planning to walk around while you are birdwatching and want to look at birds also then i would take a 300mm f2,8 + 2x extender .

[fabiobernardino]

I would also consider the Sigma 50-500/OS.
Check Robert O'toole for some examples.
http://www.robertotoole.com/

[Grady Weed]

I will second the Sigma 50-500 lens. Check out B&H here for more info: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?atclk=Zoom+Focal+Lengths_50-500mm&ci=15492&N=4288584250+4291220258+4261208166 It is a great lens and will serve you well. After you wear it out, experience wise, you will love it for larger wildlife images in your area, such as tigers, elephants, etc.