Teleconverters query

No stranger to photography by any means ( My ol' dad brought us up on Canon gear) but Digital seems to be a lot different to 35mm (Did i just swear then - sorry!!).
I converted over about 2 years ago, being convinced by the 300D. Has served well, but recent convert to the 30D (wanted the 5D or to go OTT the MkIII toy).
I have Canon 75 - 300 EF USM zoomie and find I just can't get close enough to the subject at 300 (mainly birds) to get a decent picture. Those I have taken, compared to some of these fantastic shots on this forum (Macro too - amazing stuff) seem fuzzy in comparison.
If I bought a teleconverter, would it really give me a decent doubling of focal length to obtain quality photos??

I don't know how you folk are obtaining such sharp pics and at what sort of distance?
Any help, ideas, suggestions would be good.
Thanks- Newby
PS I am in awe of some of these photo's on this site - I wish I could do likewise.

Birds are one of the more difficult topics being small, fast skittish and usually far away. The 300mm you have is about the minimum, and dedicated birders have 400 to 600mm lenses. Sit down before you check the prices on those.

Your lens (the 75-300) does not have a very good reputation for sharpness, and it will probably also become much worse with a TC. You should go ahead and try one, but if you don't like the current results at 300mm then don't get your hopes up when you add a TC. Another problem with your lens is that it is slow (f/5.6 on the long end) and is thus is at the minimum for reliable autofocus. A 1.4X TC will make your lens into an f/8 and a 2X TC would make it an impossibly slow f/11.

No Canon TC will fit your lens, they only fit Canon "L" lenses and not even all of those.

Sorry, but I don't have a lot of great suggestions. I only have expensive ones. These are:

Canon EF 100-400 L plus a 1.4TC. Very Good
Canon EF 300 f/4 L plus a 1.4TC. Excellent
Sigma 50-500 f/4-6.3 Good

Bob Atkins also reports that the EF 70-300 IS has fair IQ when coupled with a third party TC, better than the 75-300. A budget stepwise path might be to get the 1.4TC and try it, then go for the 70-300 IS. Problem is, if you still are not satisfied then you are still looking at the above

ok, my answer is going to have 2 parts:

1) i wouldn't even bother putting a TC on that lens because the quality would be VERY bad so you might as well just crop the image to get closer. my advice is to save a bit and but a good quality lens and then get a TC to help out as needed. also mind you that for birds, you will need all the reach you can get so even with a tc, you will find yourself needing more which brings me to my next point...

2) there is no substitute for good birding skills. you can have a 1000mm lens and you will still find yourself out of reach if you do not know your subject and know how to get physically closer. mind you that i own a 500mm lens with a 2.0 teleconverter and even still, i have to rely on my skills to get the shots that i want. my best advice i can give you is to spend time studying the birds that you think you will find in your area and also practice hunting skills that will allow you to stalk the subject rather than counting on him getting to you. there are many items that can help you do that like hides, camo cloths etc.. but the bottom line is that you will need to know how your subject behaves and then you will be able to get to a shooting distance. all too often, people assume that if they buy a long lens, they will be able to get intimate portraits of birds even though the reach of a 500mm is really not that long in real life. for example, when i first started doing bird photography, i was trying to shoot Black Crown Herons with very little success with my 70-200. no matter what i did, i just couldn't get close enough. then, i decided to simple go to the same spot every day and just observe the birds and see if i can either get them to get used to me or find some sort of way to approach them. well, after about a week, i was able to get so close to them that i could take shots with my 50 1.8 and it is all because i knew how and when they did certain things and i also knew whats the best way of approaching them without scaring them off. the same thing happen to me with a red tail hawk that i just couldn't get close enough to until i learned his behavior and then i was not only able to find him very easily but also get very intimate shots.

here are a few examples for you:

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Kenko Pro teleconverters work very well with Canon non L lenses and other third party lenses, like Sigma.

Thank you all very much - some very good honest feedback.
Perhaps I'll give the TC a miss then, and maybe aim at a better lens.
As for the birds - I appreciate your comments thanks.
(good pics btw)