[NovaS1X]

Birding is one of those rare use-cases though where gear is pretty essential. Astrophotography is another area where better gear often does lead to better pictures. That being said, it still doesn't make up for the skill of knowing your subjects, being patient, and spending all that time setting up the perfect shot; the gear just gets you in the front door. A bird shot in bad light at a bad angle with a phone is still a bird with bad lighting and a bad angle with a 200-600mm, just in higher resolution.

My point originally was that amateurs generally spend far too much time focusing on the best gear, when they should be focusing on their subject and skillset.

[SAI_Peregrinus]

Agreed! Some things do just need a certain minimum level of gear to do decently, but no amount of fancy gear will make up for a lack of skill.