Hi, I own a Nikon D50 with a Nikkor 18 -200mm VR lens and love it. It is really an all purpose lens and for professional bird photography may not be quite sharp enough. I recently photographed birds on Aruba, all taken without tripod. You can check them out on
www.birdforum.net under my username hbreder. I am a newbie in bird photography - so take it for what it's worth.