Complete kit change thoughts

I don't think you have overestimated the 7D for birding. I just came back from Buenos Aires shooting birds with my 7D and 20D. Boy, that was one heck of an upgrade! Granted, i have never owned a 1D before, but 7D is definitely the top choice for bird photography in prosumer class. I started taking advantage of the video mode for birds too.
If i am in your shoes, Option D sounds very good. Perhaps, get a low-mileage 7D. Couple it with your 400L. That would be your lightweight setup for birds. Weight is a big factor for me.

Good point on the lightweight thing, I generally grip all my camera bodies, but for BIF I almost never use the camera vertical, I could really save weight leaving it without a grip.

Just thought I would update:
So at this point I sold my 50mm, 24-105, 70-200, and 300.
I have purchased a 500 F4.5L, have a 70-300 L en route to me, and took a 28-135 IS on trade, which I will either keep for the occasional one lens walk around, or resell.

I am borrowing a friend's Gitzo and Wimberley, but hope to order my own pretty soon. I bought underwater housing and an underwater strobe in the middle of it all, which kind of messed up my budget, but was someting I always wanted to play around with.

I decided to go with the 500mm F4.5L since it fit into my budget without selling any camera bodies and plan on using it with a tripod. I have only played around with it and taken some "back yard" pictures, but I am excited to get out on a real trip with it soon.

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Billginthekeys wrote in post #13463359
I am considering a total gear reformation, and wanted to put it out there for some thoughts. Over the first three years of so of my photography career I put together the kit that I have and then spent the following 3 and a half years just shooting it. Over those years I shot a lot of things, from sideline college football for four years, concerts, weddings, people, and much more. I have always been able to put together a good setup for any occasion. But I find the more I have settled into my photography, I can catagorize about 80% of my shooting in just two areas, wide angle landscape and birding, and bump that up to 95+% under the category of “travel.” I have a lot of amazing and great lenses, but many end up sitting in my bag too much to justify having them to cover that remaing 5% when other lenses would accomplish the 95% better than what I have. I have considered selling some of these lenses on their own, but didn’t want to put any gaps in my kit, so I am thinking of a sweeping major change instead.

The only things I would keep out of my current gear would be my good ole’ 20D, because it is worth more to me than I would be able to get for it, my 17-40 F4L which has never let me down, and the 400 F5.6L which is my favorite lens.

I would sell the following:
5D Classic w/grip
1DMKIII
24-105L
50 1.4
70-200 2.8 non-is L
300 2.8 IS L
580EX
Odds and ends

And use those funds to get the following at an even trade:
7D w/grip
50 1.8
70-300 IS L
500 F4 IS L
430EX
Gitzo tripod with Wimberley gimbal head.

Then buy a 1DX once they are widely available at my own expense.

I feel like the 7D paired with the 500 F4 and a 1.4x when needed would be the best distance birding setup out there; except the new versions of the 500 and 600 that are delayed and double the price. I think the 70-300 IS L would be a better pairing with the 17-40 for a lighter travel load on vacations (today I generally travel with at least two bodies and four lenses, if not my whole kit, which is very cumbersome to carry even in my early 20’s). It would be more versatile for my wife, who likes to tag along with me and shoot but doesn’t take it as seriously. I would add in the 1DX for both full frame landscape on the 17-40 and birds in flight use with the 400 5.6. Lastly I would trade down to the 50 1.8 and 430EX for the once in a blue moon I want to play with low light or flash photography, which the last six years has proven to me is very rarely.

Brilliant genius plan or mad scientist scheme?

Tough to beat a 1D3,17-40 and 100-400 as a modest kit,that will do it all. While the 7D is easily the best APS-C yet offered by Canon,I much prefer the files of the 1D3 and that before comparing frame rates,buffer and rugged durability.

For feathers,I tried to give my 400 5.6 a chance,but couldn't get away from my 100-400's versatility and was spoiled by the IS. If all else is equal when chasing waning ambient light,I'll greedily take IS over a 2 or 3 stop ISO leap at like focal length.