Just purchased my first birding kit - SWEEET!

First off, I want to thank everyone on this forum for your invaluable help in assisting me with buying my first birding outfit (that's you Bruce, Larry, David, John, Mark, Gary, Roger, Ed, Jeff, and I'm sure I've forgotten some names! THANKS!). The outfit I ended up with, to compliment my Nikon D300s, is as follows:

Nikon 300m F4 AFS + 1.7 TC (will likely add the 1.4 TC in a few months when funds allow)
Kirk Replacement lens collar
Jobu Design Black Widow Jr. 2 Gimbal

I already own a fairly decent tripod - a Manfroto 055XPROB. This will turn into my permanent birding tri-pod, with the Jobu Gimbal permanently mounted on it. Obviously, if I ever decide to spend big money and get a 400 or 500 or 600 Nikon lens (I can dream, can't I?), I'll need to move up in Gimbal size, but as an amature with limited funds I think the above outfit (which cost me a bit over $2,200 - I think I got some good bang for the buck!) is going to work out great!

Again - thanks for the help, and I hope to be posting some avian photos on the "Eager to Learn" section soon!
Brian

CHL,

You have a nice setup for birding and mammals too. Looking forward to seeing your work sometime. Stay in touch and let me know when you post. I started years ago in the ETL forum and learned tons in just a few months.

Thanks for supporting BPN as well.

Thanks Jeff - as a matter of fact, I just joined up (annual subscription) today! I'm official!
:-)
Brian

Brian, congratulations on your new set up as well as your BPN "official" membership. You will get a lot of god use from both. This hobby/endeavor is not only a lot of fun, for many of us it is also therapy!