While camera equipment itself does not take pictures -- photographers do that -- I am frequently asked as to the equipment I use. 

As I'm fairly new to the world of nature photography I tend to stick with the set-up I know best and learn from my mistakes. I've always used Nikon equipment but this does not mean that you should follow suit. If you already own a certain manufacturers lenses then an upgrade to a digital body from the same company is obvious.

Sigma lenses are real workhorses. The 300mm f2.8 is a fast lens and so performs very well in lower light conditions.
As soon as you attach a lens to a Nikon digital SLR it inceases its 35mm equivalent rating by 1.5 times eg: a 100mm lens would become 150mm (the f-stop does not change) For nature photography this means you can add a telconverter to a telephoto lens to create a very long lens and retain low aperture sizes. In practise my 300mm f2.8 added to the D200 becomes 450mm with no change in f-value , add a 2 times converter and it becomes 900mm f5.6 that retains auto-focus

Here's what I currently use:

Cameras:

   Nikon D200 digital SLR body

   Nikon D100 digital SLR body

   Nikon Coolpix 990

   Tripods and Heads:

Manfrotto 443 carbon fibre tripod
Benbo Mini Treker tripod
Ergo-rest
Manfrotto 128RC head (x2)
Cullman Mini Ball Head
Opticron hide clamp
Wildlife Watching Supplies bean-bags

Lenses :

    Nikon 50mm f1.8 lens

    Nikon 18-70mm f3.5-4.5 DX lens

    Sigma 180mm f3.5 macro lens

    Sigma 300mm f2.8 lens

    Sigma Teleconverters

    Kenko DG Extension Tubes

Juvenile Night Heron