For the past 3 months, I've been picking up wildlife photography. Birds are really my thing, and definitely one of the harder things to photograph. My big interest is hummingbirds, and I'm going to try to get a little studio going in my backyard next season. This will most likely be a branch with an area for bait, then a background behind such as some flowers.
I'm using a Nikon D3100 with a 70 - 300mm VR lens f/4.5-5.6, and mostly hand shooting. With around $1000, what should be the first things to get? I have a tripod that isn't the best, but I think a wireless shutter release would be more than fine. The problem with my current tripod is that when I press down on the shutter release, the force of my finger causes the camera to move a little bit.
All suggestions welcome!
Cheers!
Read more: Necessities for Widlife Photography?