Very impressive images. I'm somewhat confused though by what appear to be radical differences in the exif data between the two shots. If the D300 shot really was a 1.7 second exposure and the D7000 was 1/1000, I'm not sure your D300 was given a fair chance to compete for detail

I would expect to see a similar difference if they were both taken with the D7000. Even with VR a shot at 1.7 seconds should be softer and show less detail than one at 1/1000.

I'd love to see a comparison like this with identical exposure settings on both cameras.

Creator: Neill D. Graham
Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: 70-200 mm f/2.8Shot at 380 mm
Exposure: Auto exposure, Aperture-priority AE, 1.7 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400, Compensation: -10/3
Date: October 3, 2012 12:46:38AM
Software: Capture NX 2.2.6 W
Field Of View: 3.6 deg
File: NDG_6206.NEF749 × 936 JPEG, 0.19 megabytes, Image compression: 90%

Camera: Nikon D7000
Lens: AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-EDShot at 400 mm
Exposure: Auto exposure, Aperture-priority AE, 1/1,000 sec, f/8, ISO 200, Compensation: -14/3
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Date: October 3, 2012 12:00:49AM
Software: Capture NX 2.2.6 W
Field Of View: 3.4 deg (1.40 m)
File: 879 × 1,100 JPEG, 0.23 megabytes, Image compression: 92%