Necessities for Widlife Photography?

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!

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Does using vibration reduction effect the quality of a photo?

Recently bought myself a Nikon lens, which has a vibration reduction feature and am wondering whether that effects the quality of image?

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Best replacement for Nikon speedlight sb 600?

I'm in dire need to replace my nikon sb-600 speedlight.

However, i'm on a tight budget and would like to find a speedlight that would work in TTL and as good as SB-600. (Would prefer to be around its price too)

I have been looking around and there are abundance of speedlight that I have taken into account, ranging from Nikkon, Metz, YN, Nissin to Oloong.

However, I'm still divided to spend on which will be the best replacement, especially when I have don't have that much money to spare.

Any models that would be best?

Some that I have taken into considerations are:
Nikon SB-25
Yongnuo YN565 EX
Sigma EF 530 DG ST
Oloong SP 690
Nissin Di622
Metz 44 AF-1… I have never used a third party speedlight before, so that's kinda adds up to my worries.

Thank you in advance!

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Confused between tamron sp 70-300mm vc usd and nikon 55-300mm vr for d3100.any suggestion?

I have a nikon d3100 and now i'm planning to buy a zoom lens for it but i can't decide between nikkor af-s 55-300mm vr and tamron sp 70-300 vc usd. I know that first one is intended for dx sensor cameras like mine and 2nd one for fx, but works with dx too. How tamron performs on d3100? What pictures shows in exif about the lens? Like if i shoot with a nikkor 18-55mm lens the image shows about the lens.is it shows tamron? Whichone would be the best lens for it? Please help!

p.s - since i'm with tight budget, i can't afford nikkor 70-300 vr.

Read more: Confused between tamron sp 70-300mm vc usd and nikon 55-300mm vr for d3100.any suggestion?