Second lens advice

[MarkE70]

I'm after another lens to take out when I'm photographing birds (and other wildlife), to accompany my forthcoming 500mm lens.
I have the following lenses in mind (all canon):

70-200 f2.8 L IS (£1250);
70-200 f2.8 L non IS (£930);
28-300 f3.5-5.6 L (£1500);
300 f4 L IS (£880).

I spend 90% of my time on wildlife photography, but it would be good to have a lens for other uses if needed.
I would be interested to hear what other people use alongside a long lens, like the 500mm.
Any advice on the lens I've mentioned (or alternatives) would be appreciated, and thanks in advance, Mark.

[RichBrew]

Mark:

I recently added the Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 AF-S VR lens to my collection, and have not looked back. I strongly recommend you get the Canon IS version of this lens. It should equal the Nikkor counterpart in performance (excellent), and it's a versatile optic to have in the bag; plus that F/2.8 aperture is always useful.

RichBrew

[GerryNick2]

All of the lenses you list are excellent. If you don't really need the f2.8 aperture and want to cut down on the weight I would seriously consider the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L IS USM. This is a light weight lens, has the new
4 stop IS and the images are very sharp, cheaper too.

Gerry