In my travel trips, I am occasionally bound by the limitation of my 18-105mm kit lens and I am currently doing my homework for an affordable tele-zoom lens that is cost-effective. Of the 60 lenses offered by Nikon, my evaluation has led me to zoom in to the Nikkor 70-300mm lens.
Reviews on the Internet all over so far has proved positive on this lens where the price to performance ratio is almost ideal. The hands-on session today with the lens has been good, save the slower-than-normal focusing speed. Its a tad over $550 but its what I would go to get the wildlife (and even perhaps sports) into my iPhoto library bank. The rest are just too expensive or low in performance.
Lastly, with VR II built-in, attempts to shoot at slower speed without a tripod may still be very possible with the ideal steady hands.